ICUA HISTORY
The Idaho Consumer-Owned Utilities Association ("ICUA") represents twenty-one of the twenty-six rural electric cooperatives
and municipalities that provide electrical services in the state of Idaho. ICUA's members are:
City of Albion
City of Bonners Ferry
City of Burley
Clearwater Power Company
Fall River Rural Electric
City of Heyburn
Idaho County Light & Power
Idaho Falls Power
Inland Power & Light Co.
Kootenai Electric
Lost River Electric Cooperative |
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Lower Valley Energy
Northern Lights, Inc.
City of Plummer
Raft River Rural Electric Cooperative
City of Rupert
Salmon River Electric Cooperative
City of Soda Springs
South Side Electric Lines
United Electric Co-op, Inc.
City of Weiser
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- Originally, the Idaho Cooperative Utilities Association was an association that represented only rural electric cooperatives in Idaho. Beginning in 1996, the Association became the Idaho Consumer-Owned Utilities Association so as to include in its membership the ten cities in Idaho that own and operate electric systems in their cities. Both organizations are known as "ICUA."
- All ICUA member utilities deliver electricity to consumers "at cost" and no member operates on a "for profit" basis.
- ICUA is an Idaho Non-profit Corporation that was originally chartered with the Idaho Secretary of State in 1948. The members are the twelve electric cooperatives and nine cities with municipal electric systems that pay membership dues. ICUA is unique when compared to most other states in collectively representing the combined public power needs of both cooperatives and municipalities under a single umbrella organization.
- ICUA has a twenty-one member board of directors which meets six to eight times a year. ICUA does not have a full time staff, but instead contracts with a Boise Law firm, Williams Bradbury P.C. (http://www.williamsbradbury.com/) for legal services, administrative support and legislative lobbying.
- ICUA member companies serve approximately 115,000 customers throughout Idaho; making ICUA 'collectively' the second largest utility in the state behind Idaho Power, and slightly ahead of Avista Utilities on a per-customer basis. ICUA members serve approximately 16% of all electric consumers in Idaho. In 2004 ICUA member utilities sold over 2.75 million megawatt hours and collected over $166 million from Idaho consumers.
- The Bonneville Power Administration supplies over 95% of the wholesale electric power that ICUA member utilities deliver to their customers. Wholesale power costs account from approximately 60% of ICUA member's total costs.
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ICUA ACCOMPLISHMENTS
ICUA accomplishes its mission in three ways:
- Member action - ICUA Directors, Councilmen and Managers, working together, establish positions on key issues. In a coordinated fashion, they lobby the Governor, the Legislature, Bonneville Power, Congress or any other entity whose decisions impact ICUA members.
- Grassroots action - ICUA member systems inform and activate local consumers on issues and urge them to use grassroots measures to lobby an issue.
- Lawyer/Lobbyist - ICUA employs a lawyer/lobbyist in Boise who devotes a substantial portion of his practice to representing ICUA interests in a variety of ways, including with the Governor, the state Legislature, the Congress, BPA and other federal and state agencies.
ICUA has been successful over the years in achieving its mission. Examples include:
- Drafting and lobbying into law changes to the tax laws that recognize and encourage the delivery of electric power to consumers on a "not-for-profit" basis.
- Successfully negotiating changes to ICUA member system power sales contracts with Bonneville Power that have provided for flexibility and diversity which are resulting in substantial retail rate savings for members.
- Negotiating with BPA and other regional stakeholders transfer agreements signed by Bonneville that recognized the unique nature of GTAs (General Transfer Agreements) in Idaho and how ICUA transmission dependent utilities are entitled to 'comparable' transmission service over the GTAs.
- Conducting ongoing youth education, youth rallies, safety education and other related public service programs.
- Passing legislation in 2005 creating the Idaho Energy Resources Authority (IERA), to facilitate the financing of electric generation and transmission projects in Idaho. For more information on the IERA, go to: www.iera.info
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