Decrease in customer prices takes effect Jan. 1
The Oregon Public Utility Commission has announced approval of overall
price reductions for Portland General Electric Company (NYSE: POR)
customers of about 2.5 percent beginning Jan. 1, 2016. The decrease
reflects reductions in PGE’s base business costs as well as various
credits and adjustments. A typical residential customer, using an
average of 840 kilowatt hours per month, will see their average monthly
bill go down about $3.16, from $99.71 to $96.55.
“We take the affordability of electricity very seriously,” said Jim
Piro, PGE’s president and CEO. “This price decrease reflects our ability
to efficiently and effectively manage our business while still making
the essential system investments to assure a reliable, affordable and
increasingly sustainable supply of electric power to our customers.”
The OPUC’s action on prices for 2016 is the culmination of a 10-month
public review process with active participation by customer advocates
and other stakeholders, as well as representatives from PGE, called a
general rate case. PGE filed the rate case with the OPUC in February
2015. OPUC staff and stakeholders were able to reach agreement with PGE
on all major issues in the rate case and filed settlements this summer
and fall that the three-member state commission has since ratified.
PGE prices vary from year to year, with OPUC approval, based on
wholesale energy prices, capital investments in plants and equipment,
and maintenance, labor and other operations costs. The impact of
specific price changes varies for individual customers depending on the
amount of power they use each month and their customer category.
Across the major customer categories, the overall average price
decreases starting in January are:
● Residential (schedule 7):
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-2.8 percent
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● Small business (schedule 32):
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-0.1 percent
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● Commercial (schedule 83):
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-1.6 percent
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● Large commercial (schedule 85):
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-3.0 percent
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● Industrial (schedules 89 and 90):
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-3.6 percent
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The OPUC has also authorized an additional price adjustment in mid-year
2016, provided the new Carty Generating Station, a baseload natural
gas-fired facility now under construction near Boardman, Ore., goes
online by July 31, 2016.
The overall impact for the year of the January 1 price decrease, plus
Carty’s inclusion, is expected to be a net price increase to customers
for the year of less than 1 percent over 2015 prices. Specific price
adjustments for the various customer categories once Carty comes online
later in the year have not yet been calculated. If Carty is not online
by July 31, PGE will work with the commission to determine the best
process to bring it into customer prices once the plant is in service.
Information on OPUC actions regarding PGE prices is available online at www.oregon.gov/puc.
About Portland General Electric
Portland General Electric, headquartered in Portland, Ore., is a fully
integrated electric utility that serves more than 852,000 residential,
commercial and industrial customers in Oregon. Visit our website at PortlandGeneral.com.
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