Idaho Falls utility partners present $128,000 check after wastewater energy upgrades

Idaho Falls Power and the Bonneville Power Administration on Thursday presented the city a $128,000 rebate tied to recent energy‑efficiency upgrades at the municipal wastewater treatment plant. Sarah Wheeler of Idaho Power introduced the presentation and said the projects produced measurable fiscal and environmental benefits for the community.

"This collaboration ... demonstrates meaningful, measurable benefits for our community," Sarah Wheeler said, thanking city staff and Idaho Falls Power employees who worked on the projects. She credited utility staff and public‑works crews for implementing the measures.

Nosch Macagina, representing the Bonneville Power Administration, described the engineering work that replaced an older lagoon/settling approach to dewatering with a filter‑press system and added variable frequency drives for two 75‑horsepower mixer pumps. He said the centrifuge option was more energy‑intensive, and the city selected a filter press to cut power use.

"We collected invoices and came up with the savings in kilowatt hours," Macagina said, and the program documentation shows an estimated 472,191 kilowatt‑hours saved from the two projects in one year. He presented the $128,000 check to the council on behalf of BPA and Idaho Falls Power.

Mayor (unnamed) thanked utility and public‑works staff for their innovation and the partnership, emphasizing that the grant was not only a cash benefit but reflected operational improvements at the dewatering facility.

The check and the technical changes stemmed from a project started in mid‑2023 and completed in late summer 2025. City staff and the utilities did not announce additional immediate capital work tied to the rebate during the meeting; the council photo opportunity followed the presentation.