Idaho Power Shows Me Why Math is Important

Last week, you may have read an article from me regarding a conspiracy theory I had about Idaho Power's LED night lights that they give you when you begin service. It began as a thought over the sink and my mind went down a whole rabbit hole, questioning what these night lights are actually costing us.

In my original article, I used an energy calculator that gave me a total cost of around $33.30/year and multiplied that by how many customers to get a total of nearly $20 million.

I've always lived by the principle of owning your mistakes and following this story, a representative from Idaho Power e-mailed concerning the theory. I'll refrain from sharing the representative's name but they were contacted by multiple people who were concerned after reading my original article. It was enough for the representative from Idaho Power to send me over some numbers complete with a spreadsheet to set the record straight. Turns out?

I was wrong.

The representative from Idaho Power sent me this nifty Excel spreadsheet that essentially annihilates my entire theory regarding Idaho Power's LED night lights.

My favorite part about this is how it's titled "Simple" but I deserve that. My experience with the Texas energy grid going down during COVID and a snow storm has clearly created some trust issues but thanks to Idaho Power, I stand corrected. I have to commend their professionalism when addressing the issue with me in the email as I feel that further exemplifies their transparency. The representative who e-mailed me was so cordial and kind despite my tin-foil hat theory coupled with bad math. They even sent over this nifty energy calculator that I had trouble finding (not for lack of trying) on my own.

Kudos to the folks over at Idaho Power for having me put my foot in my mouth on this theory regarding their night lights. If you've ever read any of my previous work, I frequently invite feedback for reasons such as this - I'm human and can be wrong.

I want to publically extend an apology to the folks over at Idaho Power if I created any confusion among their customers with my "for-fun" conspiracy theory about their LED lights. I also want to thank Idaho Power for fact-checking my math and being so cool about all of it.

Now - if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go practice basic arithmetic.