SALT LAKE CITY -- Rocky Mountain Power is firing back at the state utility commission's ruling on a rate increase that was much lower than the company wanted.

Without more money, the power company is planning a series of service cuts.

The company said that on Sept. 15 it will stop hiring for customer service jobs in Utah, limit overtime for workers restoring electricity, halt some maintenance and drop funding for renewable energy research and economic development activities.

The company will also look for more ways to drive down electricity demand.

Company officials were frustrated that the Utah Public Service Commission last month approved only a $36 million rate increase instead of the $74.4 million it sought.

That's what led up to a surprise press release Tuesday detailing the Sept. 15 cuts.

"This isn't a threat," Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Dave Eskelsen told the Salt Lake Tribune. "When the laws of man go against the laws of physics, the laws of physics always win. And generating electricity is all about physics."

Company officials say they'll challenge the rate-hike order.

"The cost of providing for increased electric consumption by existing customers and the cost of providing service to new customers has exceeded the revenue the company receives," Richard Walje, president of Rocky Mountain Power, said in a statement.

Michele Beck, director of the state's Committee of Consumer Services, said she was caught off-guard by the announcement.

"I find this very troubling," Beck told the Associated Press on Wednesday. "It looks to me like they are saying, 'Give us what we want or we're going to take it out on Utah consumers.' I don't know that you can read it any other way."

She said her office has run the company's proposal by utility experts that work in several states and "none of them have ever heard of anything like this."

The committee, which advocates for consumers, had said the company should have only been given an $8.5 million increase.

Rocky Mountain Power officials say they're facing rising costs. The price of buying power for Utah customers goes up between $16 million and $20 million every six months, they said.

Commodity prices have also climbed steeply since 2001: steel at 350 percent, copper at 349 percent and diesel fuel at 209 percent, the company said.

Walje, in his statement, put much of the blame on the upcoming service cuts on the state utility commission.

"We regret the impact the recent decision of the commission will have on the level of service we are able to provide," he said.

Beck said the company has not made a compelling case for the rate increase they sought and seem unwilling to see a cut in profits.