Pacific Power to Sell Some Oregon Service Areas
Posted on March 27, 2026 by Cassie Allen
Tags, Energy, General Interest
Big changes are in the works for one of Oregon’s largest electric utilities! On March 19th, Pacific Power, owned by parent company PacifiCorp, announced its plan to sell three small parts of its Oregon service territory.
Once finalized, residential and industrial customers in Wallowa County, Monroe, and Lakeview, Oregon, will be served by publicly-owned utilities. Pacific Power’s sale will impact around 10,000 customers, or about 1.5% of its Oregon customer base.
Regulators at the Public Utility Commission will have final authority over the sale, and approval could take up to 12 months to complete. This is a big change for some Pacific Power customers. CUB is keeping a close eye on this process to ensure what’s best for customers is front and center.
Pacific Power to Sell Parts of Oregon Territory to Publicly-Owned Utilities
Pacific Power has announced its intent to sell part of Oregon’s service area to several publicly-owned utilities. The Wallowa County service area will be sold to the Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative. The Monroe area will be sold to the Blachly-Lane Electric Cooperative. And the Lakeview area will be sold to the Surprise Valley Electrification Corporation.
Who will be impacted by the sale:
- Service areas totalling just under 10,000 customers
- 5,514 customers in Wallowa County
- 1,162 customers in the Monroe area
- 2,228 customers in the Lakeview area
Regulators Must Sign Off
Before the change is finalized, it has to be approved by regulators at the Oregon Public Utility Commission.
The process is likely to take about a year for the Commission to make a decision on whether this sale can move forward. Pacific Power will continue providing customers with utility services until the deal is finalized by regulators.
How this Sale Will Impact Oregon Customers
The lengthy review process means that Oregon customers won’t see any changes immediately. If the sale is approved, customers in the affected service areas will see their utilities transition to publicly-owned utilities at the beginning of 2027, at the earliest.
Selling these territories to publicly-owned utilities will have a big impact on some Oregon customers. In 2024, Pacific Power charged around 14.74 cents per kilowatt to residential customers. The same year, the publicly-owned utilities Pacific Power is selling to charged the following rates to residential customers:
- The Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative charges 10.08 cents per kilowatt.
- The Blachly-Lane Electric Cooperative charges 14.92 cents per kilowatt.
- The Surprise Valley Electrification Corporation charges 12.77 cents per kilowatt.
Big Takeaway: Customers in Wallowa County and the Lakeview area will likely see a decrease in monthly power bills! This could save households big money in the long run. Customers in the Monroe area, who will be served by Blachly-Lane Electric Cooperative, could see their bills increase by a small percentage.
Why are rates lower for most publicly-owned utilities? Overall, consumer-owned utilities, like co-ops or municipal utilities, charge lower energy bills compared to for-profit utilities. This is because of contracts with the Bonneville Power Administration and the region’s abundant (and cheap) hydroelectric power. It is also because customers of non-profit utilities do not need to pay premiums for shareholders, like with for-profit utilities.
Many questions arise because of these changes. Pacific Power and the publicly-owned utilities will need to figure out how this impacts utility discounts and debt forgiveness programs going forward. Additionally, once the sale is finalized, regulators won’t have a final say on these issues because publicly-owned utilities are regulated locally, not at the state level.
CUB will keep pushing to ensure customers are prioritized at every stage of this sale. We’ll keep customers informed as we learn the next steps.
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03/27/26 | 0 Comments | Pacific Power to Sell Some Oregon Service Areas