PGE Seeks New Rates Effective 2015
Posted on April 15, 2014 by Nadine Hanhan
Tags, Consumers and Utility Customers, Utility Regulation
Portland General Electric (PGE) filed its 2015 rate case on February 13, 2014, not quite a year after its 2013-2014 rate case. PGE is requesting a total increase of $81.5 million in revenue, over half of which it attributes to two new resources: Port Westward Unit 2, a natural gas plant, and the Tucannon wind farm. PGE estimates that its request for increased revenue will translate into a 5% total increase for all residential class customers, or about $4.92 per customer per month. PGE is asking to put this rate increase into effect in three stages. Though the docket is still in its early stages, CUB has already identified issues to dig into and is hard at work on our analysis.
The first issue is that CUB feels PGE has filed this case too early. As our frequent readers will know, in order for a utility to be able to collect money from customers for a particular capital resource, the resource must be deemed “prudent” and “used and useful” by the Oregon Public Utility Commission. However, PGE is already asking for rate increases for capital resources that haven’t completed construction, such as Port Westward and the Tucannon wind farm.
Furthermore, it appears that because of the previously mentioned timing issues, PGE will not have modeled the wind farm’s capacity before intervenors (like CUB) have to write testimony about it, and before the rates come into effect. This means that PGE will be collecting money on resources that have not been properly reviewed for prudency. CUB feels that PGE could have more efficiently handled this situation by filing later with complete information about these capital resources.
Another issue that CUB plans to review is PGE’s request for an increase in revenue related to employee wage increases and an increase in its allowable profits for its shareholders. CUB finds both requests troubling because PGE’s increases are greater than current economic circumstances would support.
We will keep you updated on these and other issues as we dig into the discovery phase of this docket. One other item of note is that the Oregon Public Utility Commission is holding a Public Meeting again this year (you can read about last year’s public meeting here) to take comment directly from the public as to how the public feels PGE is doing business. The public meeting for the rate case (docket UE 283) is scheduled to take place on Thursday, May 29, 2014. The time and location will be publicized closer to the time for comment. We hope to see you there!
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04/05/17 | 0 Comments | PGE Seeks New Rates Effective 2015