Here’s how much PGE, Pacific Power electric bills will increase starting January - OregonLive
Here’s how much PGE, Pacific Power electric bills will increase starting January - oregonlive.com
Customers of Oregon’s two largest power companies can expect to see their rates go up at the beginning of 2024 as the electric utilities make final yearly adjustments to cover energy costs.
Portland General Electric residential customers will see their rates increase by 18% overall. That’s slightly higher than what the utility company had forecasted in November, when the Oregon Public Utility Commission approved PGE’s request for a yearly adjustment for power supply costs and a general rate increase for all other utility costs.
The increase is largely driven by inflation and power costs, as well as infrastructure spending the power company said would improve safety and reliability.
Derek Hanson, spokesperson for PGE, said the company had previously anticipated a 17.2% increase but that their forecasted figure “would shift, given additional filings and power cost updates that were in motion but not yet final.”
Hanson said those “end-of-year power cost adjustments” were approved by the commission on Monday, bringing the overall increase to 18%. But the final customer rate “may slightly increase or decrease” pending other matters that the commission set to decide on Dec. 28.
The typical PGE residential customer uses about 795 kilowatt hours per month with an average monthly bill of $130, according to the utility company. The upcoming rate increase will bring the monthly bill to roughly $153.
PGE had postponed another proposal that would’ve increased customer prices by 2% to recover costs related to wildfire mitigation efforts, Hanson said. He said the power company delayed that increase “until after cold weather season when many customers see higher than usual bills due to increased energy use.”
Kandi Young, spokesperson for the utility commission, said regulators are still investigating PGE’s proposed changes for recovering wildfire mitigation costs. But if approved, she said, the increase would be effective April 1, 2024.
Pacific Power, whose parent company is Portland-based PacifiCorp, is also seeking to raise electricity rates for Oregon customers by 11% overall in 2024 to cover higher power costs, according to a filing to the utility commission on Monday.
Young said the commission is set to rule on Pacific Power’s filing on Dec. 28. If approved, residential customers will see their rates increase Jan. 1, 2024.
Pacific Power is also seeking an additional 2.1% increase to cover costs related to lowering wildfire risks in the future, Young said, but the commission will decide on that on Jan. 9, 2024. If approved, the rate increase would go into effect the next day.
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--Kristine de Leon; kdeleon@oregonian.com
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