(The print version of this story misreported PGE’s 2023 revenue increase. The correct information, found in PGE’s financial filings, show that their total revenue increased to $2.923 billion in 2023 from $2.647 billion in 2022 which was another increased figure from $2.396 billion in 2021. Keizertimes apologizes for the confusion.)
Despite instituting a price hike on residential customers in 2024, Portland General Electric (PGE) has asked the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) to further increase price rates by another 7.4% next year, 2025.
Provided the request is accepted, this would be the third year in a row that PGE has increased rates since 2023 where they created a between 7 – 20% increase on residential customers while in 2024 they increased that rate again by 17%.
The company filed their request Thursday, Feb. 29 with the OPUC for an increase that, if approved, would take effect Jan. 1, 2025 at the earliest.
The OPUC will get the next 10 months to review the request and make a determination on whether or not to approve it.
PGE’s proposal can be found at portlandgeneral.com/2025-rate-case.
For its part, PGE stated on their website that the increase is to, “Modernize the grid to meet customer needs and deliver safe, reliable energy requires ongoing investments.”
The three reasons they list for the price hike deal with bolstering reliability of local battery energy storage system projects, modernizing the grid to meet growing customer needs with enhancements to transmission and distribution as well as increasing resilience with investments in hydro, wind and technology improvements.
A statement from Larry Bekkedahl, senior vice president of strategy and advanced energy delivery, noted that
“To achieve the day-to-day reliability that customers expect while simultaneously solving for the challenges of the future, PGE is deploying battery energy storage technology to modernize and strengthen the grid.”
These last few years of price hikes come in concert with the nearly $450 million in federal funding PGE, Pacific Power and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs received in 2023.
According to Oregon Public Broadcast (OPB) reporting, nearly $250 million went to PGE and Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to update older transmission lines which, according to the utility companies, will be used to help bring more electricity to the nearly 900,000 customers PGE serves in western Oregon.
PGE received an additional $50 million in order to aid with the costs of artificial intelligence software as well as smart meters which help connect small-scale energy sources and batteries to a larger grid.
PGE is not alone in the request for more money as utility company Pacific Power has also requested a rate increase, 16.9% or roughly $304 million, in order to create more wildfire management programs, build more transmission infrastructure as well as invest in renewable energy projects.
Contact Quinn Stoddard
[email protected] or 503-390-105
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