Oregon PUC approves 17 percent rate increase sought by Portland General Electric for 2024

Customers of Portland General Electric (PGE) will soon see their rate jump approximately 17 percent, after the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved the change effective Jan. 1, 2024.

While that decision was announced in October, the precise amount wasn’t finalized until this month, to factor in both final power supply forecast and other rate adjustment filing decisions. Ultimately, this led to an 18 percent average increase for residential customers, 14.4 percent for small commercial/business customers and 12.5 percent for large commercial/industrial customers. For reference, this would see the average single-family residence’s monthly bills jump about $24.59.

The PUC credited a mix of capital investments, resilience and reliability upgrades, increased vegetation management costs and national inflation for the price hikes.

“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,” Megan Decker, PUC chair, said. “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 has been expanded to better support Oregonians experiencing low incomes.”

Volatility has risen in the Western electricity market in recent days, and power costs with it. In turn, PGE sought to pass those costs onto its 900,000 customers in Oregon. The figures noted above were the end run of an annual adjustment for power supply costs, a general rate case filing and other smalling filings.