Politics and the Future of Oregon Community Power
Posted on July 20, 2005 by oregoncub
Tags, Legislative & Political
Back at the beginning of the 2005 Legislative Session, CUB was excited about the prospect of a State-led purchase of Portland General Electric. We participated in the development of Oregon Community Power, even helping write the bill, SB 1008. And we think it’s all there: strong structure, responsible ratemaking, good governance.
Unfortunately, existing public power districts, led by the State’s co-ops, opposed federal hydropower benefits for Oregon Community Power. They inserted language into the bill that would take away even existing levels of benefits, resulting in a potential 15% power cost rate hike for PGE customers. This bill passed the Senate, passed the House, and received a concurrence vote from the Senate today.
We had hopes of fixing the language in 1008 that hurts customers. In fact, we were assured by its sponsor that we would have a chance to fix the rate hike language when the bill was discussed in the House. Well, we were denied that chance, which is a blow to PGE customers and proponents of public power.
PGE customers should receive the hydropower benefits they currently get. Otherwise, the public power benefits of the bill could be offset by a significant rate hike. We had hoped that the bill would be revised in the Senate to remove the rate hike, but Senators today did not make this happen, and so we will ask the Governor to veto it. As always, you are welcome to add your voices to ours (Governor Kulongoski’s number is 503-378-4582).
With the mutant utility bill already on the Governor’s desk (yes, this is our second time this session to ask Governor Kulongoski to veto a bad bill), and the tax reform bill still struggling in the House, this could go down as the most anti-utility-consumer session in history. It just goes to show us how very much we need our utilities under stable ownership, providing the best-cost power available, with an eye to Oregon’s energy future.
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02/21/17 | 0 Comments | Politics and the Future of Oregon Community Power