True Cost of Electricity in Rural Alaska and True Cost of Bulk Fuel in Rural Alaska

Abstract

In this analysis, we compile data from several sources to estimate the true cost of electricity in rural Alaska. The true cost includes expenses listed on the utilities’ books plus costs paid by other entities in the form of explicit and implicit subsidies. Our focus is on the nonfuel costs of power. Fuel costs are quite volatile and are tracked carefully by AEA on a monthly basis. The concept of “Fuel cost” typically includes the price paid at the point of delivery into a bulk storage tank. We do include here as contributed resources the estimated subsidies to the fuel delivery system for electricity due to provision of bulk fuel storage by, for example, the Denali Commission.