According to the Juneau Empire, Alaska Electric Light and Power has asked the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) for permission to raise residential and commercial electricity rates, permanently by 22.1 percent, and by 18.5 percent in the interim. That will cost Juneau customers about $6 million per year, which is probably enough by itself to tick off many ratepayers in Juneau, but the plan proposes leaving rates paid by the utility's biggest individual customers (Princess Cruise Lines and Greens Creek Mine), where they are. Alaska Beat confesses it didn't understand the utility's explanation very well, but the proposed rate hike seems mainly due to increased costs, some of which are associated with a large hydroelectric project which recently went online. Predictably, customer opposition to the rate increase has been loud and fast. People even started submitting comments to the RCA before the formal comment period opened -- through a Web form designed only for reporting problems with service. Read much more, here.