Private study estimates acid-rain control cost

Proposals in Congress to control acid rain could cause electricity rate increases ranging from almost nothing in Oregon to 37 percent in West Virginia, according to a report by Management Information Services Inc., a private company. The amount of a utility customer's bill increase would depend largely on which power company is supplying the electricity, the report said. ``These rate increases would not necessarily be limited to a few states in the Midwest, as is commonly assumed,'' said the report, based on 180 power companies in the contiguous 48 states. It calculated what would be the impact on customers under different acid-rain bills that were considered this year by Congress.

The bills are expected to form the starting points in 1987 for a major push by environmentalists to legislate curbs on sulphur dioxide emissions from coal-fired boilers.