City sued for apparent unfair electric rates

Idaho Forest Group is suing the City of Bonners Ferry, claiming the amount its lumber mill in Moyie Springs pays the city for electricity is unfair.

Idaho Forest Group is seeking a refund.

Mayor David Anderson had no comment.

“You know the minute they file one of these, your attorney tells you not to comment,” Anderson said.

Attorneys in Boise for Idaho Forest Group said they were not authorized to comment. Sandpoint attorney Suzanne Fegelein, who also represents Idaho Forest Group, did not return a phone call to The Herald.

Idaho Forest Group buys its electricity from the city of Bonners Ferry, which has a generating facility along the Moyie River. In 2009, the mill paid $614,505 for the service.

On Dec. 1, city council changed rates for industrial users, increasing Idaho Forest Group’s rate by 13 percent or $80,000 more a year, according to court papers. The mill is the city’s only industrial user.

In a suit filed on Feb. 1, Idaho Forest Group claimed it protested the rates set in July 2006 and that the company has attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate a rate dispute with the city.

Idaho Forest Group’s action resulted in the company paying high rates for 2006 and 2007, according to the suit. The city agreed to an interim rate in 2008, but ceased when new rates were adopted in 2009, according to court documents.

In the suit, the company says it would like refunds on the rates paid in 2006 and 2009.