Essentially, IRPs are energy demand and supply (or, in energy business lingo, “load and resource”) planning tools that energy companies and public utility commissions use as blueprints to ensure electrical utility service needs will be met into the future. Although both serve Idaho, they envision very different energy supply futures for their respective regions.Įvery two years utilities are required to develop Integrated Resource Plans (IRP) to identify the best mix of energy resources, taking into account cost and risk, to guide planning for the next 20 years. Idaho Power Company serves Idaho’s Snake River Basin, extending from Blackfoot west to the Oregon border and north to McCall, while Rocky Mountain Power serves the portions of Idaho roughly extending from the Wyoming border to where Idaho Power’s service area starts near Blackfoot/Pocatello. Southern Idaho’s two privately owned electric utility companies, Idaho Power Company and PacifiCorp’s Rocky Mountain Power, have significantly different projections for the use of wind and solar resources to supply customers over the next 20 years. Idaho Power Company and PacifiCorp’s Rocky Mountain Power Predict Very Different Energy Futures for Idaho over the Next 20 Years Added by Dana Hofstetter in Articles & Blogs on August 15, 2018

Rocky mountain power idaho