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Plan to Hike Electric Bills 29% Sparks Fury in Wyoming

Proposed increase turns into fight over renewable power in coal-rich state, leads to talks of government takeover

For years, people in Wyoming have been accustomed to paying some of the lowest electricity prices in the U.S., despite harsh winters and a rugged landscape.

Now a 29% hike proposed by the state’s largest utility has residents and local leaders up in arms. Many in Wyoming, which leads the nation in coal production, are aiming their fury at renewable power.

At packed public meetings in recent weeks, residents and officials have laid the blame for the rate increase on projects such as the wind farms sprouting up around the sparsely populated state. But the utility, Rocky Mountain Power, says the actual culprit is rising fuel prices. 

Across the U.S., electricity prices are on the rise, driven by factors including inflation, drought and a global supply shortage worsened by the war in Ukraine.

Few places, though, have seen as furious a backlash as Wyoming, where some lawmakers and residents have suggested that if the rate increase goes through, officials should take drastic action.

“I’m not too sure that the state shouldn’t take over your business, buy you out and deliver the electricity to our people,” Republican State Rep. Bill Allemand said at a recent hearing, referring to Rocky Mountain Power. 

Coal plants accounted for about 71% of the electricity produced in Wyoming in 2022, down from a peak of 97% in 2003 but still second highest in the nation behind West Virginia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Wind power’s share more than doubled from 2019 to 2022, reaching 22%.