PGE Customers Win Refund Starting July 1
Posted on July 6, 2023 by Charlotte Shuff and Will Gehrke
Tags, Energy, General Interest
CUB’s work has led to a refund to Portland General Electric customers on July 1, 2023. Approximately $3 million will be refunded to residential customers for costs related to the now-closed Boardman Coal Plant.
This refund will extend for the next two years. The total refunded amount is expected to be $6.5 million for all customers, including commercial and industrial customers. Of that total refund, $3 million will go to Oregon households.
CUB Negotiated Boardman Closing to Save Customers Money
In 2020, Oregon’s last coal plant closed in Boardman, Oregon. This was the first voluntary closure of a coal plant by a utility in the United States. CUB advocated for the closure to prevent customers from having to pay millions of dollars in retrofits to reduce regional haze emissions. After years of efforts, CUB and our allies celebrated this huge victory for consumers and the environment.
Consumer Victory on Boardman
After the closing of the Boardman Coal Plant in 2020, CUB also pushed hard to make sure customers would not be paying for the coal plant after it closed. In the last Portland General Electric rate case, CUB won approval from utility regulators to require PGE to track its accounting surrounding the Boardman closure, subject to a review of PGE’s earnings.
In 2022, PGE disagreed that its earnings were high enough to refund funds from Boardman to PGE’s customers. PGE pushed back on CUB’s efforts but ultimately agreed on an approximately $6.5 million refund for all customers. Customers will see the refund show up as a credit on bills based on energy use for the next two years.
This is the first major refund that CUB has won since the federal tax refund in 2017 for PGE’s customers and is a big win for Oregon households.
07/06/23 | 3 Comments | PGE Customers Win Refund Starting July 1