"The other thing that you can do is propose an adjustment to the (return on equity)," Gimble said. "That tends to get a utility's attention."

The discussion over adequate staffing levels largely stems from a 2003 holiday power outage in which 190,000 Utah Power customers lost electricity, some for up to five days. Residents complained that inadequate staffing and investment by PacifiCorp in Utah left the system vulnerable.

Aside from staffing issues, Utah regulators seemed pleased with MidAmerican's marriage of PacifiCorp. The proposed sale must be approved by all six states in which PacifiCorp operates: California, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

While the deal appears to be sailing through Utah, that is not the case in Oregon, where the Oregon Public Utility Commission in November recommended a denial of MidAmerican's acquisition of PacifiCorp.

"The application does not demonstrate net benefits to PacifiCorp's customers and will harm customers," the Oregon PUC said in its filing. "As it stands today . . . the acquisition presents several clear and quantifiable harms such as increased insurance costs, increased overhead charges, and potential increases in the cost of debt."

Mark Moench, a senior vice president at MidAmerican, told Utah regulators Monday that if a resolution is not reached with Oregon this week, negotiations would likely spill into January.

Washington state, Moench said, has scheduled a four-day hearing for later this month, but the state is deferring to Oregon.

California has reached a partial settlement with MidAmerican. Idaho should reach a settlement by the end of this week. And Moench added that negotiations were going well with Wyoming.

"Everything is still on track," Moench said. "We believe final orders will in place in February."

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com