BOUNTIFUL -- After July 1, the electric bill received by Bountiful Light & Power customers will be a bit heftier--to the tune of about 10 percent. That translates to about $6.50 for the "average" homeowner, said Allen Johnson, power and light department director. He emphasized that it's hard to go by an average, however, because of different home sizes and individual power demands. The hike has not been approved by elected city leaders yet. "We are still churning some numbers to take to the council and power commission in three weeks," Johnson said., "We could be higher (than Rocky Mountain Power)," after the rate hike, he said. However, that all depends on if and when Rocky Mountain's power rate hike proposal is approved by the Committee of Consumer Services/Public Utilities Commission.

"We have been as much as 40 percent lower" than RMP, Johnson said, taking a historic view.

But conditions are vastly different, today.

"We're treading some new uncharted waters," the power chief said.

In an exclusive interview with the Clipper Tuesday afternoon, City Manager Tom Hardy gave the meat, the reasoning, behind the power rate hike.

"The cost of power (to the city) is going up significantly," he said. It will have cost $14 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30. It will jump to $17 million for the 20009 fiscal year which starts July 1.

Factors behind that include expiration of a contract with Idaho Power that provided a relatively cheap power supply source; Colorado River power is increasing significantly in price, with that source providing 40 percent of Bountiful's power mix.

In addition, in three years, the Deseret Generation power source, part of Intermountain Power in Eastern Utah will disappear as high growth and demand in that area takes priority over more distant users, such as Bountiful.

"Normally all of this would translate to a 15 percent increase (in power rates), but we're cutting other things down," Hardy said.

"We hope to keep the (proposed) rates in place until 2011," the veteran city manager emphasized.

On top of that, the national power source scene impacts Bountiful: no new nuclear power plants built since the 1970s and the likelihood of more hydroelectric power sources does not look promising, due to environmental concerns.

"You can say do wind, but wind is reliable only about 30 percent of the time," Hardy said. "Solar is good when the sun shines. As far as using recyclables, it's very expensive, costly to put down a plant."

That's including potential increases in power usage, which have come in Bountiful and nationally due to larger homes and more electronic device usage.

Beyond that, though, Hardy said, "We're not even taking into account a viable system where vehicles (cars, trucks, SUVs) could be plugged in, in the garage, at night," should electrically powered or partially powered vehicles gain ground.

BL&P, as a public business concern, has traditionally transferred a portion of revenues to other city uses. Hardy said that will continue.

A decade ago, about 20 percent of that revenue ($2 million) went to the city. It's recommended it drop to 10 percent for the coming fiscal year, he said. That will equate to about $2 million of a $20 million power department budget.