Rural Utilities: Jeff Peterson Rural utilities continue to play a very important role in the economic prosperity of rural Utah. The demand for these services has become apparent in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Broadband and other cellular networks allow many individuals to work from home, and with a greater emphasis on remote working, this is a trend that will continue. Obviously supporting all of this is safe, reliable, and affordable power to our rural communities. Ensuring that these utility services can continue or enhance is critical to rural Utah. ● Challenges ○ As base load resources are reduced, intermittent power generation is often unable to provide power when it is most needed. This leads to spikes in power demand, volatile pricing, reduced reliability, and, ironically, a greater dependence on the remaining traditional resources to back up the system. The state needs to be careful that energy policy positions do not so heavily lean into the solar/wind direction with increases to the Renewable Portfolio Standards Program that we lose our ability to generate our coal and gas resources. Coal and gas are reliable, low cost, and provide significant jobs and benefits to rural communities. These benefits cannot be replicated by today’s wind and solar. ○ Electric vehicles will become more prevalent in the US and Utah. Making sure we have an EV charging network is critical to this – it eliminates range anxiety and allows individuals to have these vehicles. The state appropriated a matching funds program in the 2020 General Session for EV infrastructure in rural cooperative service territory (which was subsequently cut due to COVID budget shortfalls).Getting this money reappropriated is important for rural EV infrastructure buildout. ○ Many rural areas of the state do not have the same high cost utility infrastructure in place which enables companies or businesses to easily locate along the Wasatch Front. In rural areas, fewer people pay for this type of buildout - this makes it difficult for the utility, or the business, to have adequate funds to get the power infrastructure they need. The state should consider creating an incentive program that helps fund these high cost electric utility infrastructure projects so our rural areas have better access to competing for new business. ○ The most critical thing for the rural telecom industry is figuring out how to deploy future-proof (fiber optics) broadband to all the homes and businesses in the US. In Utah, this also needs to remain a priority – especially to rural Utah. There are some existing programs to support the delivery of these services in high cost areas (USF funds, ACAM, etc.), but without modified regulations that increase funding or federal legislation that appropriate funds for this effort, it will take many, many years to achieve this goal. For instance, ACAM is a 10-year commitment and will only fund speeds of up to 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up for many locations. That requirement does not have to be met for 6-7 more years, so while there is funding for those projects, it is not funding future proof networks that provide adequate speeds (100 Mbps). ○ One issue highlighted by COVID-19 that needs to be addressed going forward is clarifying the critical employees/infrastructure designations for utility workers/organizations. This should include, among other things, priority testing for these workers. This will ensure continuity in service, and that power/communication operations are not inhibited during a pandemic. ● Requests ○ Support for low cost power ○ Electric Vehicle Charging Deployment ○ Rural high cost infrastructure incentive program ○ Continued support for broadband deployment ○ If needed, the state or federal government should implement programs to assist customers to help pay their utility bill. Most utilities have worked hard to ensure their services are available to customers during COVID (suspending disconnects or working with customers who are struggling), but they can not operate that way indefinitely.
Appendix A 2020 Governor’s Rural Partnership Board Annual Report
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