The average retail price of electricity in Utah is on the rise, but prices still remain lower than the national average, according to a recent report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In 2005, residential electricity rates in Utah rose to an average of 7.59 cents per kilowatt-hour, up from 7.21 cents per kwh in 2004.

Eleven other states had average residential electricity prices lower than Utah's, according to the report.

West Virginia had the cheapest electricity rates in the nation at 6.21 cents per kwh. Hawaii was the most expensive at 20.66 cents per kwh. The U.S. average in 2005 was 9.42 cents per kwh, up from 8.97 cents in 2004.

Dave Eskelsen, a spokesman for PacifiCorp, Utah's largest retail provider of electricity, said a combination of factors keep the state's electricity prices low.

"Our coal-fired units are a big part of that," Eskelsen said. "But there are, of course, transmission and distribution aspects to that as well."

According to the report, about 94 percent of Utah's electric power generation comes from coal. Nearly 4 percent of the state's electricity was generated by natural gas-fired plants.

Oregon and Washington, also states served by PacifiCorp, had lower electricity prices than Utah mainly because of their hydroelectric power plants, Eskelsen said.

Despite today's low prices, electricity in Utah likely will grow more expensive for customers of PacifiCorp, which in March asked Utah regulators for a $197 million rate increase, the largest ever requested in the utility's history and amounting to a $10 monthly increase for a typical residential customer using 753 kwh. Since then, the Portland-based utility — which does business in Utah as Utah Power and is owned by Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. — has revised its rate request downward to $194 million.

David Irvine, a Salt Lake attorney and former Utah public service commissioner, said more electricity coming from natural gas-fired power plants being built in the state will drive up prices.

"At some point it's not improbable that Utah is going to have to face the question of whether nuclear generation in the long run is going to be less expensive than coal or natural gas," Irvine said. "That's a tough, tough policy issue, but with expanding populations and the price of gas going where it is headed, I think that is a fair question that somebody ought to be looking at."

Unlike coal-fired or natural gas-fired power plants, nuclear power plants generate electricity without creating air emissions.

One person looking seriously at nuclear power is Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem.

Daw was instrumental in adding language to a state energy bill signed into law this year that promotes the study of nuclear power generation in Utah.

"I think we should see a nuclear power plant in Utah," said Daw, who added that there are legitimate issues about nuclear waste, but those issues largely exist because the U.S. does not reprocess spent fuel rods.

"If we reprocess the spent fuel, there would be no nuclear waste," Daw said. "I see this more as a way to generate electricity for Utah, but also as the way for Utah to export electricity and bring some sorely needed revenue in for different programs in Utah."

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