Increased rates headed for Portland General Electric customers
Winter will bring higher bills for customers of Portland General Electric (PGE) this year, as a result of recently approved rate increases set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
As a result of authorization by the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC), the company’s general rate will increase approximately $175 million, and power costs will increase approximately $203 million. By combining the two cases, residential customers will ultimately face an approximately 17 percent increase to their rates, although this could be reduced somewhat depending on how a currently under review seventh partial stipulation goes.
PGE cited capital investments, increased costs to its vegetation management program and inflation for the increases, along with rising power costs driven in general by increased volatility in the Western electricity market. In recent years, the company has invested into updates to the Faraday Resiliency and Repowering hydroelectric project, resilience and reliability upgrades to its transmission and distribution systems, and more.
“PUC Staff, consumer advocates, and other parties reviewing PGE’s rate filings were able to reach a compromise rate increase that the Commission found reasonable,” Megan Decker, PUC chair, said. “The rate increase reflects the need to invest in the reliability and resiliency of PGE’s system, advance policy objectives like equity and clean energy, and the reality that PGE faces inflationary pressures and high market power prices. At the same time, we recognize how significant this rate increase will be for families and businesses, and we encourage them to seek out help with bills through energy efficiency and the rate discount program that, in this decision, we have expanded to better support Oregonians experiencing low incomes.”
This isn’t likely the end of changes, either. Proposals for other rate adjustments are under consideration as well, including both credits and charges, including a push to recover costs of the company’s wildfire mitigation efforts. How these affect the overall rate hikes won’t likely be known until December.
