Expect it to be big, possibly as much as $100 million or more, which could mean a jump of $5 a month or more in the typical residential customer's bill.

The company, which provides most Utahns with electricity, still is reeling from a decision by the state's Public Service Commission last month that allowed it to raise its rates by $39 million, or roughly 25 percent of the $161 million it requested in December 2007.

"The bottom line is the PSC didn't give us enough to run our system the way we think it should be operated, or the way that our customers demand," said Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Dave Eskelsen, adding the company also didn't get enough to purchase the electricity it needs.

The PSC's decision was a shock to the power company, which famously threatened a cutback in customer service as a result. Since 2003, Rocky Mountain Power had managed in three earlier cases to avoid having to justify its request for higher rates to the state's top utility regulators.

Prior to 2003, utilities seeking to raise their rates typically appeared before the PSC to argue their cases. Often those proceedings were full-blown hearings where customers, witnesses and experts testified, the latter two groups on complicated and esoteric matters distinct to the rate-setting process.

But that year, after arguing the rate-setting process in Utah was too expensive and cumbersome, the utility successfully convinced the Legislature to change state law to encourage the utilities and their adversaries to settle rate cases rather than litigate them before the PSC.

The company seemed to do well for itself as a result.

In two major cases filed between 2000 and 2003, the power company requested to raise its rates a combined $209 million. The PSC, however, allowed the utility to raise the amount it charged its customers by $57.5 million, or just 28 percent of the requested amount.

After negotiated settlements became the norm, Rocky Mountain Power sought permission in three cases to raise its rates a total of $430 million, but settled for $231 million, or about 53 percent of its requested amount.

Rocky Mountain Power's critics, such as Roger Ball of the Utah Ratepayers Association, said it was about time that a rate case was litigated again before the PSC.

"The three settlements cost rate payers nearly $300 million from 2004 through 2008," Ball said, noting the association bases its argument on the disparity between the cases Rocky Mountain Power was forced to litigate prior to 2003 and those it settled since then.

Whether Rocky Mountain will be pushing hard in 2009 to settle its next rate case rather than risk Utah utility regulators taking another hard look at its finances is anyone's guess. The utility, though, did try to settle its last case but wound up having to argue the matter before the PSC after both the Committee of Consumer Services and the state's Division of Public Utilities balked at another negotiated settlement.

"We're not against settlements per se," said Michele Beck, the director of the Committee of Consumer Services, which represents consumers and small business owners in utility rate cases. "But for the committee to sign off on a settlement, it is going to have to be in consumers' interest."

Rocky Mountain Power argues that it needs big rate increases to support its continued investment in generation, transmission and distribution projects to ensure that its electrical grid can support a growing number of customers and increased demand for power.

Eskelsen argues that in its most recent rate cases, as well as those over the past 10 years, the utility has come up short and failed to get adequate rates to cover its costs of serving its customers.

Others suggest that the company isn't in as bad of financial shape as it represents.

Over the past decade, Rocky Mountain Power has earned a return of 4 to 8 percent on its equity, which represents the amount of money its shareholders have invested in the company.

"You have to realize those returns are after taxes," said Gary Dodge, a Salt Lake attorney who represents the Utah Association of Energy Users, a group of large industrial utility customers.

Beck at the Committee of Consumer Services said if the company's rates haven't been adequate, it is the utility's fault. "They have had plenty of opportunities to present their case [to the PSC] for higher revenues," Beck said. "No one has ever argued that, well, times are tough and we need you to take a hit because people are suffering."

For the consumer services committee, the bottom line is that the utility hasn't convinced Utah regulators that it needs the higher rates it is demanding. "All we're saying is that if you truly need those higher rates, then make your case," she said.

She also suggests that it is disingenuous on the company's part to push hard for the opportunity to settle rate cases then come back years later and say that its settlements weren't good enough.

"It could be that Rocky Mountain Power's push to settle rate cases is actually harming them by shifting their focus from making their case [for higher rates] to making the [settlement] deal," Beck said.

Eskelsen offers a different take. "We'll agree to a settlement when we believe that we won't be able to do any better if the case is litigated," he said.

As for the argument the company has failed to make its case for higher rates, Eskelsen said it has used much the same data to successfully argue for higher rates in other states. "So it is puzzling to us why the outcome in Utah is different."

steve@sltrib.com

What's next

Rocky Mountain Power is expected to determine the amount of its proposed rate increase shortly after the first of December.