Eco-Activists Trying to Force Anchorage’s Electric Utility to Provide Per-User, Proprietary Usage Data

February 20, 2024

In a brazen move, eco-activists at one of Alaska’s most aggressive ‘renewables-above-everything’ organizations are demanding your private utility data.

Couched under the guise of building a sustainable energy rate case, and in conjunction with Earthjustice, the Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP) has asked the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) for proprietary, per-user patterns and overall demand.

Nat Herz with Northern Journal first broke the story, which has been met with objection by Chugach Electric and other utilities, who argue the customer data is privileged information.

“Why should REAP be able to require Chugach to spend thousands of dollars and more than 140 hours of employee and consultant time and resources, so that REAP (and the rest of the intervening parties) can inspect the actual electricity consumption habits of virtually every resident and business in Anchorage and know where they are located?” the utility wrote in a response to REAP’s formal RCA request.

The REAP/Earthjustice team argue that only with real-life data will they be able to build a rate table that will show proposed benefits to moving from traditional, reliable energy sources of coal and natural gas to renewable (wind and solar) solutions. Withholding the information would not be in the public’s interest, they argue.

Chugach customers should value the actions taken by the company; the confidential nature of usage patterns and overall consumption should be privy to the provider, and not of other interested parties.  Furthermore, Chugach owes nothing to REAP or other activist organizations looking to weaken Anchorage’s energy security by introducing less-reliable, higher-cost wind and solar into the mix.