PGE Now Requesting 10.9 Percent Rate Increase for 2025
Posted on August 1, 2024 by Charlotte Shuff
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 1, 2024
PGE Now Requesting 10.9 Percent Rate Increase for 2025
In a year with record numbers of PGE customer disconnections, the utility’s request to increase rates continues to climb.
After several updates, Portland General Electric (PGE) is now asking to raise billing rates for all customers by 10.9 percent in 2025, up from its originally requested 7.4 percent. This double-digit proposal comes on the heels of a record number of households disconnected in April and May. Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB), the state’s utility watchdog organization, is calling on regulators to address the energy affordability crisis Oregonians have faced this year.
As PGE’s requested increase grows, customers are already struggling. PGE shut off power for more customers than ever recorded in April and May of this year. These disconnections were the result of families’ inability to keep up with the cost of electricity. In April, PGE shut off 4,712 households—the most since reporting began in 2018. In May, PGE shut off 4,303 households. This marks the only time that a utility has reported exceeded four thousand disconnections two months in a row. By comparison, April 2023 saw only 1,313 shut-offs for non-payment.
“Oregon families are already struggling to afford their energy bills,” said Bob Jenks, Executive Director of CUB. “We need our utilities to control their spending. No one should have to choose between electricity and food, medicine, or other necessities. But this is what PGE is effectively asking too many people to do with seemingly unending requests for double-digit bill increases.”
Because utilities disconnect for non-payment after 90 days, it is clear that the combination of rising rates and extreme temperatures has pushed customers into debt to PGE. This January, Oregon families saw PGE billing rates increase by 18 percent at the same time as a major ice storm kept temperatures at record lows for over a week. Three months later, we are still seeing the impacts of these record-high January bills. CUB warns that another double-digit increase in January 2025 would worsen customers’ ability to afford their utility bills.
The jump to a 10.9 percent increase request is largely due to rising costs of fossil fuels and other power prices. CUB is asking the Oregon Public Utility Commission to delay or reject most of the rate increase, reduce the company’s profit margin, and cut costs by millions of dollars. The watchdog is also asking the commission to expand protections against disconnection.
Customers can comment on PGE’s proposal on the PUC website by selecting docket UE 435 or by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and including UE 435 in the subject line.
About the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board (Oregon CUB):
Oregon CUB is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit established by initiative process to represent the interests of Oregon’s residential utility customers. CUB advocates for customers by working to develop energy systems that are affordable, accessible, reliable, and clean, and ensure telecommunications policies that support universal broadband access. ###
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Charlotte Shuff
Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board
503.719.8744 | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
09/04/25 | 0 Comments | PGE Now Requesting 10.9 Percent Rate Increase for 2025