Idaho likes new name for utility

It's been a month now since Utah Power changed its name to Rocky Mountain Power, and the biggest problem associated with the changeover, if you could call it that, is that a few customers sent their payments this month directly to company president Richard Walje, who has a lot of duties, but processing payments isn't one of them.

In an effort to make the transition as personal as possible, in mid-July Walje had sent a letter with his signature and return address to the company's 900,000 customers in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming apprising them of the name change.

"A handful of people sent their payments directly to Mr. Walje," said company spokesman Dave Eskelsen, "so we had to make sure they got processed correctly. But that's been about it as far as any problems. Overall, the reaction to the name change has been a lot less than I thought it would be."

Among the "handful of replies" the company received, Eskelsen said some were even congratulatory.

No one was surprised that those had Idaho postmarks.

"Idaho has never been real sweet on the name 'Utah Power,' " said Eskelsen.

The utility's roots date back to 1912 when a number of smaller energy companies came together to form Utah Power & Light.

Even when bigger mergers enlarged the playing field over the years, the name stuck for Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, although the "& Light" part faded out about 20 years ago.

But when the MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. — part of the Warren Buffett empire — acquired Utah Power's parent company, PacificCorp, this past March, the decision was made to part from the 96-year-old name and stop discriminating against Idaho and Wyoming.

As Eskelsen tells it, the new name came about during a conversation between Walje, Utah Power's president, and Gregory Abel, the president of MidAmerican.

"Mr. Abel asked Mr. Walje, 'What should we call it?' and Mr. Walje said, 'I'd like to call it Rocky Mountain,' " said Mr. Eskelsen.

"That was it. No image consultants or focus groups or extensive name searches. We spent less than $2 million on the entire name-change program."

And Idaho is happy. And so is Wyoming.

Company names come and company names go, but one that has stayed the same for 144 years isn't going anywhere.

That would be the Daynes Music Company, which dates all the way back to 1862 and is not only the old-