Utilities pursue economic development role

While business and economic development has typically been the purview of governmental and quasi-governmental organizations, increasingly utility companies are playing a role.

“Across the country, utilities like Idaho Power have business development teams, providing that single point of contact,” said former Idaho Director of Commerce Megan Ronk, whom Idaho Power hired in January as director of business innovation and development.

Idaho Power, which covers southern Idaho, works with site selectors to provide information about power and learn what businesses require, Ronk said. The company has also placed community relations representatives on economic development boards.

Avista Corp. provides natural gas and electricity to most of the 10 northern counties of Idaho, said Paul Kimmell, regional business manager for the Spokane company. Its business development efforts focus on community vitality and prosperity in urban and rural areas, he said.

For example, Avista formed the Business Entrepreneurship Network, creating a curriculum and providing seed funding for community colleges, including North Idaho College, Kimmell said. The company worked with Washington state to create Startup Washington 365, a template to support entrepreneurs that he hopes to launch in Idaho as well. “The kinds of economic development in rural Idaho are limited,” he said. “What are those strategies? What do they look like? A really formalized startup strategy will help those communities.”

Avista was also involved in forming Inland Northwest Partners, providing educational workshops and best practices for community leaders and economic development professionals. This led to the formation of the Inland Northwest Economic Alliance in 2004 to provide tools and training for economic development professionals spanning 14 organizations. Specifically for rural areas, the company also helped launch the Rural Vitality Initiative, a three-year pilot providing leaders and community members, including Idahoans, with an eight-month training program, he said.

Rocky Mountain Power, based in Salt Lake City, serves eastern Idaho between Malad and Preston and Rexburg, said Christopher Pengra, economic development director. The company works with agencies and municipalities on site selection, as well as with economic development organizations such as Regional Economic Development for Eastern Idaho.

This helps the company prepare for growth, Pengra said. For example, it has $100 million in capital investments planned over the next three to four years, including upgrading capacity from Rigby to Rexburg and completing a transmission line from Goshen to Rigby.

All three utilities provide power to many states – Idaho Power to eastern Oregon, Avista to eastern Oregon and eastern Washington, and Rocky Mountain to Utah  — but their rates in Idaho are regulated by the Public Utilities Commission, said Matt Evans, public information officer in Boise. “They are individually regulated by the commissions in each state, with costs allocated to each jurisdiction based on the cost to serve its residents,” he said. “Customer count is a big factor in determining those costs, but policies in other states are also a factor – renewable portfolio standards in Washington, for example.”

As electric utilities typically have a monopoly in the regions they serve, business development efforts may seem self-serving. But there is more to the utilities’ business development efforts than just creating new customers for themselves, representatives said. “Even though we’re a regulated utility, there’s still competition out there,” Ronk said. “Whether it’s existing customers or new companies, they have a lot of choices where they locate, across the country or in the Pacific Northwest. We’re competing from that standpoint for broader-scale investment into the service area and into the state.”

“We want the ability to pay for utility services and mutual prosperity,” said Kimmell. “We can figure out water, sewer, and roads, but we try to focus on civic ‘infrastructure.’”