Amy Dominguez, amy.dominguez@sierraclub.org
Salt Lake City – Sierra Club released its sixth Dirty Truth Report Tuesday that grades utilities across the country based on how much coal they are retiring, how much gas they are planning, and how much renewable energy they are adding. This year, Rocky Mountain Power, which PacifiCorp operates in Utah and Wyoming, scored an F.
Its failing score is a direct result of its lackluster energy plan. PacifiCorp’s 2025 Integrated Resource Plan projects a drastic increase in CO2e emissions compared with its previous resource planning, underscoring the climate consequences of its continued reliance on fossil fuels. PacifiCorp has continued investments in coal and gas, notably forgoing new clean energy resources to meet growing demand in Utah and Wyoming for the next 20 years. That reliance comes at a cost. In addition to worsening climate impacts, including increasingly devastating wildfire seasons, continued reliance on fossil fuels exposes customers to high and volatile fuel costs. By contrast, investing in clean energy resources has shown to be able to save customers millions of dollars. In fact, renewable energy remains the cheapest way to generate electricity.
UTAH:
The fossil heavy utility’s plans are not aligned with what Utahns want from their utility. In March of 2026, the Utah Public Service Commission approved the Utah Renewable Communities (URC) program, an initiative that will let residents and businesses in 16 Utah communities choose affordable clean energy through Rocky Mountain Power – demonstrating that the utility can deliver, when required.
WYOMING:
Meanwhile, Rocky Mountain Power customers in Wyoming are contending with ever increasing rates as the utility filed a request for a $71 million rate hike in May, equating to a permanent 8.8% base rate increase to be reflected in customers’ bills. This comes as Rocky Mountain Power continues asking customers to pay for year after year of high fuel prices. Despite the fact that fuel prices were temporarily lower in 2025, residential rates have already increased by more than 15% since 2023, largely due to volatile natural gas markets.
The full report is available on the Dirty Truth website or here.
“Utahns want to see Rocky Mountain Power move towards when it comes to planning for our energy future,” said Senior Campaign Organizer for the Sierra Club in Utah, Luis Miranda. “While Utahns care about affordability, the utility is doubling down on fossil fuels that leave customers exposed to rising and volatile costs that are reflected in our utility bills. Just this past May, Utah was able to produce more power from solar than any other source. It’s important that the public look beyond the image Rocky Mountain Power presents and pay close attention to what the choices it’s making mean for our energy future.”
“Rocky Mountain Power’s grade shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody, especially as Wyomingites struggle to cover our ever increasing utility bills,” said Sierra Club Climate and Energy Organizer in Wyoming, Emma Jones. “Instead, it continues to prioritize the same old fossil fuel resource mix that keeps rates high, when clean energy resources have been shown to offer long-term savings for customers. The report shows that its sister utility, Pacific Power, is willing to move towards cleaner, lower-cost resources. Rocky Mountain Power customers, on the other hand, are on the receiving end of its expensive, dirty energy and air.
“The Dirty Truth report has once again revealed utilities’ overwhelming failure to plan a phase-out of their expensive and dirty fossil fuel infrastructure, and transition to clean energy,” said Sierra Club Chief Program Officer Holly Bender. “Every year that utilities drag their feet on the clean energy transition is another year where families pay record bills for expensive fossil fuels, another year of extreme weather events, and another year of air and water pollution threatening our health. We cannot afford to wait any longer to bring our grid into the 21st century. As artificial intelligence data centers drive demand for energy, utility companies are rushing to expensive and dangerous fossil fuels, leading to soaring electricity prices and worsening air pollution. The time is now for these companies to transition to affordable, reliable, clean energy to build a healthier and more sustainable energy future. The Sierra Club will continue to push utilities to deploy more renewable energy and work to lower costs and emissions.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.