Regulatory Commission of Alaska commissioners John Espindola, left, and Bob Pickett, right, listen to testimony at a recent hearing on Chugach Electric Association’s request to raise its electricity prices by 5.5%. Nolan Oliver, a state administrative law judge coordinating the hearing, is at center. (Photo by Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)
Should Anchorage residents who consume more electricity, and use up more of the region’s dwindling supplies of natural gas, have to pay a higher price to reflect the steeper cost of the imported fuel that will replace it?
How much will developers of wind and solar projects have to pay to move the electricity they generate across power lines they don’t own?
And how can businesses and residents be encouraged to reduce their energy use and thereby delay the need for expensive gas imports?
All those are questions that now must be answered by the gubernatorially appointed members of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska , following the recent conclusion of a month-long public hearing.