PGE residential customers stare down possible rate hike as biggest customers drive demand - KATU

PGE residential customers stare down possible rate hike as biggest customers drive demand

The company’s financial reports and filings with the Oregon Public Utility Commission show PGE is delivering more energy to its customers largely due to demand from semiconductor facilities and data centers. (KATU)

PORTLAND, Ore. — PGE is asking state regulators to approve another residential rate hike – higher than its requested increase for industrial customers – despite a surge in demand from the utility’s biggest customers and a decrease in use among residential customers, a KATU investigation found.

The company’s financial reports and filings with the Oregon Public Utility Commission show PGE is delivering more energy to its customers largely because of demand from semiconductor facilities and data centers.

“Strong growth in deliveries to industrial customers related to high-tech expansion and new data centers continues to be the primary driver of total energy deliveries growth of 3.2% expected for 2025,” the company told regulators.

PGE residential ratepayers saw an average rate increase of 7% in 2023 and 18% in 2024; the company is requesting another 7.2% increase– on average – for residential ratepayers, compared to just over 4% for its industrial customers.

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The actual number of residential customers increased in that timeframe.
“If you've got more customers and less usage, that means they're being more proactive,” ratepayer Doug Wagner said. “I think they owe us an explanation as to why residential is taking the biggest hit on these increases versus commercial and industrial.”

KATU asked PGE for an interview to discuss the rate proposal and the impact for each class of customers; a company spokesperson declined and answered our question through a statement.

“In some years, industrial customers do see a higher share of the price increase. A higher proportion of the investments that have been made since PGE’s last rate review support our residential customer’s needs, such as investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure, resiliency measures, and grid modernization,” the statement read in part.

PGE said it is cheaper to serve industrial customers because they have “flatter usage profiles” and can receive electricity at higher voltages.

The Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board – an advocate for residential ratepayers – wants the state to make PGE prioritize its investments in the grid.

“The real issue isn't: are there investments you can make in the utility system that over 30, 40 years can benefit the system? The question is: which one should you do today? Which one should you do next year? Which one should you do in five years,” Oregon CUB executive director Bob Jenks told KATU.

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Doug Wagner is not confident the upgrades he and other customers help pay for will make his service better.

“My speculation is that when they talk about reliability, redundancy and all that, that's for these industrial clients; that's where their focus is,” Doug said. “Data centers aren't going to want downtime. They’re not going to want to have problems with the electrical grid system.”

The Oregon PUC will make a final decision on 2025 rates by the end of December. Any rate increase would take effect in January 2025.