Boise — Nearly $2 million in overpayments made by Idaho Power Co. to the J.R. Simplot Co. for power generated by Simplot’s cogeneration plant at its phosphate fertilizer complex west of Pocatello will be paid back to the utility’s customers. The Idaho Public Utilities Commission (IPUC) is accepting, with some modifications, a confidential settlement agreement reached last February by Idaho Power and Simplot to repay $1.88 million to the customers. Under the agreement, Simplot will repay Idaho Power $1.56 million, and Idaho Power shareholders will pay the remaining $320,000. When the power exchange contract between the two companies was finalized in February 2006, Simplot agreed to sell the power generated as a byproduct of its Pocatello plant’s manufacturing process to Idaho Power in accordance with the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of 1978. The Boise-based company was required to deliver no less than 90 percent or no more than 110 percent of its contracted monthly amount of power. Any power delivered outside that range would be accepted by Idaho Power, but at a lower rate. When the contract ended in 2013, Idaho Power discovered it did not lower its monthly payments to Simplot during the months when power deliveries fell outside the 90/110 performance band. “We are pleased that the PUC has made a decision on resolving this contract matter. We continue to look forward to working with Idaho Power as both a customer and electrical power generator,” Simplot spokesman David Cuoio told Green Markets. IPUC agreed that Idaho Power bears partial responsibility for the overpayment by failing to adequately monitor the payments over the course of the seven-year contract.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain