A public meeting has been scheduled for March 29 on Rocky Mountain Power’s (RMP’s) application to the Wyoming Public Service Commission (Docket No. 20000-481-EA-15) for authority to modify the contract term of its PURPA power purchase agreements (PPAs) with qualifying facilities (QFs) from 20 years down to three years

A subsidiary of PacifiCorp, Rocky Mountain Power serves 1.8 million customers in six western states, with nearly 140,000 ratepayers in Wyoming, alone.

The revision, the public utility said, would be more “consistent with the company’s hedging and trading policies and practices for non-PURPA energy contracts” – which, RPS said, were “put in place as a direct result of input from the company’s stakeholders.

Indeed, the utility asserted that the current, commission-approved PURPA contract length puts retail customers at risk of harm due to significant and unnecessary exposure to long-term price risk.

RMP stated in its filing that it is necessary to reduce the maximum contract term for PURPA contract from 20 to three years due to a dramatic increase in QF pricing requests it received during 2014 and 2015.

The hearing will continue through March 31, as necessary the commission said.