Proposed franchise
agreement outlined
Ketchum customers
may see
1 percent power rate hike
By GREG
STAHL
Express Staff Writer
Ketchum
electricity customers could soon experience a 1 percent increase in their
power bills, and, using moneys collected through the rate hike, the city
of Ketchum could begin amassing funds to bury its power lines.
Mayor David
Hutchinson released Dec. 5 a draft franchise agreement between Idaho Power
Co. and the city, which would establish a framework to facilitate burying
power lines that string Ketchum’s streets. Both parties appear amenable
to the draft agreement.
The Ketchum
City Council unanimously voted to introduce the draft ordinance,
triggering a 30-day minimum time frame under which the city and power
provider can hammer out details.
If adopted
as proposed, the agreement would allow the city to bid for contractors and
require that Idaho Power perform power line burying work at actual,
not-for-profit costs.
"We
have no right to make them pay for everything, but we do have the right to
get a fair price," Hutchinson said. "It should significantly
reduce the cost of burying."
All
overhead-to-underground relocation and improvements "shall be the
responsibility of the city, and the city shall be charged for the actual
costs for such relocation and improvements," the draft agreement
states. In determining costs, the city would receive credit for Idaho
Power’s cost of relocating the facilities if they had been improved
above ground.
The city
would have the right to obtain bids for all associated work, except for
electrical and engineering work, "which shall be the sole
responsibility of Idaho Power or its contractors," the agreement
states.
Hutchinson
said Idaho Power would not consider the agreement unless electrical and
engineering work remained exclusively under its control.
Adoption of
the agreement would end a five year period in which no franchise agreement
has been in place. Under Ketchum’s previous, 50-year franchise
agreement, which expired Sept. 1, 1997, the city did not charge a
franchise fee. State law, however, allows cities to charge a 1 percent
fee, but voters can approve a fee up to 3 percent.
A franchise
agreement enables a city to charge citizens a franchise fee, and gives a
utility the authority to work on city properties without asking permission
every time a transformer or wire needs replacing.
The
agreement would also require that Idaho Power develop within six months of
the agreement’s adoption a conceptual master plan of anticipated
improvements within the city.
The master
plan would be approved and adopted by the city council and be reviewed and
updated annually.