Six On Your Side has received several emails from viewers who were concerned that their Idaho Power bills are higher than average. Idaho Power representatives say rates have not gone up.
They say it's all due to the extremely cold temperatures the Treasure Valley has been having. Idaho Power bills are on a lag, so customers receive their power bill for the month prior.
Idaho Power tells Six On Your Side, over the past few weeks customers have seen bills from December where they might have had guests over for the holidays and had snow days from school and work. This in turn could have caused an increase in electric use such as using lights, hot water, game consoles, and TV's.
An Idaho Power representative says because your furnace is having to work harder and go on more often to keep your home at a warm temperature, it uses more energy.
"Customer bills this year, reflect about twenty to thirty percent colder temperatures for this December over last December. This December and January were the second coldest in thirty years, so while we do get cold every winter, and we do see you know below zero or zero degrees, this year especially was unique," said Lynette Standley, Idaho Power spokesperson.
They say they are happy to work with customers and they have a variety of options to help people. If your bill is much higher than average because of this, you can make an arrangement with Idaho Power by giving them a call at (208)388-2323.
You can also go online and register for myAccount here, https://www.idahopower.com/login/login.cfm which allows you to monitor your energy usage.
For energy efficiency tips go here, https://www.idahopower.com/pdfs/EnergyEfficiency/Winter_Tips.pdf
For options on how to manage high bills go here, https://www.idahopower.com/ServiceBilling/Residential/Billing/highBill.cfm
