BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Power's programs to trim electricity use during summer months when demand skyrockets have been saved but customers will have less financial incentive to participate — and won't get warnings the utility is about to shut off their air conditioners or irrigation pumps.

Those provisions are part of a tentative agreement announced Friday by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission. Idaho Power had sought to suspend load-reduction programs earlier this year, on grounds they were costing the utility's ratepayers more than the energy they saved.

Since June, however, the utility met with the Idaho Irrigation Pumpers Association and environmentalists from the Idaho Conservation League and the Snake River Alliance, over alternatives. The commission is taking comment on the pact, to cost ratepayers $16.7 million annually if it's adopted, through Oct. 28.

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