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-Editorial
The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) Board of Directors received an update on December 17 regarding a newly completed electric cost-of-service study conducted by NewGen Strategies and Solutions, LLC. The study outlines IID’s financial needs, projected earnings, and the cost distribution among customer classes. During the meeting the board also appointed Director Gina Dockstader as the new IID Chairwoman and J.B. Hamby will continue as Vice-Chairman for the third year in a row.
The study considers factors in necessary capital investments to sustain and improve system reliability in the coming years. It also addresses the need for IID’s rate structures to align with evolving energy market conditions and renewable energy technologies. The proposed rates are designed to recover operational costs while supporting system modernization and enhanced customer service.
To ensure public input, IID staff has recommended a public rate hearing on January 16, This forum will give customers an opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed rate changes. The proposal will also be presented to the IID Board during its January 21, 2025, meeting. As required under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) and Resolution 94-80, IID must give customers 30 days’ notice before implementing rate changes.
Several key factors are driving the proposed rate adjustment, according to IID General Manager, Jamie Asbury. These include the rising costs of maintaining reliable electric service, compliance with state and federal regulatory mandates, and the need to meet environmental goals such as greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions and Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS). The rate changes also aim to support regional economic growth, maintain financial stability to ensure access to credit, and facilitate optimal asset management. Additionally, IID is focused on modernizing its generation and transmission assets to meet present and future energy demands.
While the exact impact of the proposed rate changes on customer bills has not yet been detailed, IID’s objective is to keep rates fair, cost-based, and financially sustainable. The last base rate adjustment occurred in 2015, when rates increased by 7.4%. Before that, IID rates had not been adjusted since 1994, except for a 2.85% rate decrease in 1995 to comply with a state-mandated public benefits charge. Since 1994, the cost of living has increased by 117%, but IID’s rates have risen only 8.15% in the same period.
A comparison with other utilities highlights IID’s competitive rates. For a residential customer using an average of 1,070 kWh per month, IID’s monthly bill is approximately $248. This is significantly lower than rates charged by other providers, such as Pasadena ($270), Anaheim ($308), and Southern California Edison ($405). San Diego Gas & Electric tops the list with a comparable monthly bill of $520.
IID’s rate design strategy, guided by its Strategic Directives (SD-4), prioritizes several core principles. These include cost recovery to ensure rates fully cover operational expenses, optimal asset management, and financial resilience to maintain stability and credit access. The strategy also promotes consistency by using small, regular rate updates to avoid large, sudden increases.
Transparency is another key element, Asbury said, with biennial updates providing customers advance notice of changes. IID aims to keep its rates competitive with regional utilities, offer flexible rate options like time-of-use (TOU) rates, and ensure rates are simple and easy for customers to understand. Additionally, the strategy emphasizes fairness by appropriately allocating costs among customer classes.
The cost-of-service study aligns with IID’s Policy Objective BL-8, which requires the General Manager to provide a cost-of-service study in even-numbered years and recommend a biennial budget in the fourth quarter. In odd-numbered years, IID updates water and power rates, provides the board with a 30-year financial outlook, and presents results from a public survey.
El Centro resident Peter Rodriguez voiced concerns about consumer outreach, urging local officials to improve communication and transparency. “There are consumers that have not had this information available, and hopefully we’ll see this,” Rodriguez said. “Let’s get to this issue that they don’t, and they start calling you and asking you questions. I hope down the future, you have meetings with the consumers in English and Spanish. They can be informed and educated, because the worst thing out there is an uneducated consumer.” He stressed the importance of proactive outreach, warning of potential backlash if it’s not addressed.
Lilia García voiced frustration over the lack of information available to the public, especially for working families. “We’re not informed because we’re too busy working,” she said. “I’m a single mother with one income, and I don’t have time to review my entire bill — I just look at what I’m being charged. I just want it all to be justified.”
García emphasized the need for transparency and better communication with Spanish-speaking residents. “I’m committed to informing the public, especially Spanish speakers, because they need to be aware too,” she said. She vowed to rally more community members for the next meeting in January. “I’m going to create waves so we can all understand what you’re doing and make sure it’s justified,” García warned.
Director Dockstader acknowledged the difficulty of raising rates but emphasized the necessity of covering service costs. “Everything is going up. We know it, and unfortunately, we need to cover the cost of service. We don’t take it lightly,” she said. “When I ran for the board and did my due diligence, I never once said I wasn’t going to raise rates, because it was going to happen.”
Dockstader pointed to a comparative graph highlighting that local rates remain lower than those of investor-owned utilities. “Even remember the graph that we showed earlier, we’re still on that low end compared to everybody else, especially investor-owned utilities,” she noted. She agreed on the need for community outreach, acknowledging it won’t be well-received. “We need to spread our message, and it still isn’t going to be great. Nobody wants rates to go up. We like that dollar menu — that’s human nature,” she said.
IID Director Division 4 Lewis Pacheco emphasized the urgency of addressing financial challenges to avoid depleting reserves. “The only concern I have is that, based on what we had, if we don’t do anything, in three years we’ll lose our reserves, and then we’re really going to be in a hole,” Pacheco said. “So what are we going to do with that? We either have to face the facts and start working on this.” He highlighted the importance of long-term planning, adding, “The plan is also to build our infrastructure. So that’s the main thing.”
IID Infrastructure
In related news, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) Board of Directors adopted a resolution committing to the full modernization of its water and power infrastructure by 2040. The resolution, presented by Vice Chair JB Hamby and Director Gina Dockstader, underscores the urgent need to rehabilitate and replace aging infrastructure critical to the region’s water and power systems.
The IID owns, operates, and maintains a vast network that includes 7,000 miles of power distribution and transmission lines, 3,000 miles of canals and drains, 37 internal generators, the Imperial Dam, and the All-American Canal. However, a large portion of this infrastructure is nearing or has surpassed its useful life, posing risks to service reliability, efficiency, and safety. Without action, projections indicate that by 2040, 38.2% of water infrastructure, 37.6% of power infrastructure, 76.4% of general services infrastructure, and 86.7% of information technology infrastructure will have exceeded their lifespan.
The board’s resolution aims to address decades of deferred maintenance, comply with state and federal regulatory requirements, and improve operational efficiency. To support this effort, the IID is drafting its first comprehensive Asset Management Plan and a 15-year capital improvement plan. These documents will guide the district’s approach to rehabilitating, replacing, and maintaining critical infrastructure.
Key objectives outlined in the resolution include ensuring that all infrastructure is in good or better condition by 2040 and does not exceed its useful life. The IID also plans to pursue funding from state and federal grants, loans, and bonds while maintaining financial reserves to reduce the impact on ratepayers.
“I appreciate the hard work that staff has put into this project,” said IID Director Division 3 Gina Dockstader. “There has been a lot of effort in evaluating all of our assets. So many things come to this board, and we often have to delay our capital projects. This resolution, as mentioned, gives us a North Star to continue moving forward with these critical modernization projects instead of constantly pushing them off. I hesitate to use phrases like ‘kicking the can down the road,’ but this is truly about bringing the IID into this century. Modernization is essential, and I genuinely appreciate the effort put into making it happen.”
“The district is a lot of things, but the most important are the water rights we protect and our role as a balancing authority,” Asbury said. “Without the necessary infrastructure, both of those are at risk. Robust water infrastructure ensures our sole supply flows where it needs to, supporting agricultural life in Imperial County. Without that water, there’s no need for power infrastructure. We’ve pushed everything as far as it can go, and I believe this is an excellent goal — something for us to work toward annually.”
