OREGON
Saturday, March 5, 2022
East Oregonian
A7
Pacifi c Power seeking 12.2% rate increase
By TED SICKINGER
The Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
An elementary school student reaches to get his face shield
Sept 3, 2020, after taking a “mask break” on the playground
at the Ukiah School District building.
State off ers guidance
as schools ready to
drop mask mandates
By ALEX BAUMHARDT
Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM — The Oregon
Department of Education
released updated guidance for
school districts on Wednes-
day, March 2, that ends some
testing protocols and contact
tracing.
The changes to the Ready
Schools, Safe Learners Resil-
iency Framework — a road-
map for keeping schools open
and students safe during the
pandemic — comes as schools
prepare for the end of state
mask mandates on March 12.
G ov. K a t e Br ow n
announced the lifting of the
mandates for the public and
in schools on Monday, citing
a rapid fall of COVID-related
infections and hospitalizations
in the state.
The Oregon Health
Authority now estimates
nearly 82% of Oregonians are
immune and potentially safe
from reinfection for at least 90
days, according to a note on
March 2 from a state offi cial
to school districts.
The update says schools
should no longer try to
pinpoint the source of an
outbreak by contact tracing
or continue with test-to-stay
— a program that previously
allowed students to stay in
school as long as they tested
negative twice within five
days of an exposure. Test-to-
stay will now only be avail-
able for students at high risk
of COVID-19.
“These practices now,
unlike earlier in the pandemic,
have minimal impact,” said
Colt Gill, director of the
Education Department.
COVID-19 tests will be
available to students and staff
who think they have been
exposed, and parents and
guardians will be in charge of
deciding to quarantine their
kids if they are suspected of
being infected or test posi-
tive at home. Leaders at the
state Education Department
and health authority recom-
mend a quarantine of five
days if a student tests posi-
tive for COVID-19, or until
symptoms fully subside. Gill
said schools have a responsi-
bility to exclude students who
are infected for fi ve days, the
period when they are most
infectious. Schools also have
a responsibility to communi-
cate to parents when a student
is suspected to have been
exposed, he said.
The Oregon Department
of Education continues to
recommend universal mask-
ing when there is high risk of
transmission, based on data
from local health authorities,
and for students and staff
who are at increased risk for
severe disease.
PORTLAND — Pacif-
iCorp wants to raise elec-
tricity rates for Oregon
customers by more than 12%
in 2023 because of higher
power costs, general infl a-
tionary pressure as well as
increasing costs for wildfi re
planning and mitigation,
according to proposals fi led
Tuesday, March 1, with state
regulators.
The proposed hikes
include a general rate
increase to cover the costs of
operating and maintaining
the utility system as well as
an annual power cost adjust-
ment that covers the costs of
electricity it buys on whole-
sale markets and the fossil
fuels it purchases for its own
generation plants.
It is the largest general
rate increase the company
has requested since 2010,
and if approved, would be
the fi rst such increase since
2014. It will be subject to a
10-month regulatory review
in which it is typically
reduced, sometimes signifi -
cantly.
Pacifi Corp supplies elec-
tricity to more than 600,000
Oregon customers under the
name Pacifi c Power, making
it the state’s second largest
electric utility.
Utility offi cials said Tues-
day they are requesting an
$82.2 million increase in
revenue. That’s 6.6% over-
all, but the impact diff ers by
customer class. If approved
as fi led, it would represent a
9.1% increase for residential
ratepayers, a 4.3% increase
for general service commer-
cial and industrial customers
and a 5.9% increase for large
industrial customers.
The company concur-
rently filed for its annual
power cost adjustment,
proposing a 5.6% increase
in rates. That increase also
differs by customer class,
and would amount to a 5.2%
increase in rates for resi-
dential customers, 6.1% for
general service commercial
and industrial and 7.7% for
East Oregonian, File
Pacifi Corp wants to raise electricity rates for Oregon customers by more than 12% in 2023
because of higher power costs, general infl ationary pressure as well as increasing costs for
wildfi re planning and mitigation.
large industrial.
Company offi cials, who
will update the request in
November, said that increase
is being driven by infla-
tion in wholesale electric-
ity markets and natural gas
commodity prices.
The company is facing
a number of lawsuits stem-
ming from the historic 2020
Labor Day fi res that claim
the company systematically
underestimated fi re risks in
its service territory, underin-
vested in vegetation manage-
ment and that its equipment
was responsible for most of
the destructive confl agra-
tions that took place in 2020.
The company has accrued
$136 million in reserves
to cover potential wildfi re
losses net of expected insur-
ance recoveries. None of
those costs are included in
Tuesday’s proposal.
But a signifi cant driver
of the general rate increase
request, accounting for
about half of it, is future
investments in wildfi re plan-
ning and mitigation. That
includes a big increase in
tree trimming costs to keep
limbs from contacting wires
and potentially causing fi res.
Aside from review-
ing and authorizing rate
increases, the Oregon Public
Utility Commission also
performs an annual audit
of large utilities’ vegetation
management programs. The
commission has repeatedly
concluded that Pacifi Corp’s
and Portland General Elec-
tric’s programs fall short of
requirements. Its 2019 audit
of Pacifi Corp listed 27 pages
of violations across the state.
In 2020, there were 20 pages
of violations listed.
Allen Berreth, vice pres-
ident of transmission and
distribution operations, said
Tuesday that the utility is
moving from a four-year to
a three-year trimming cycle
along most of its transmis-
sion and distribution lines
and will be inspecting its
lines in high fi re-risk areas
annually and taking correc-
tive actions.
To manage the work, it
is hiring more foresters and
inspectors, and it is also
seeing cost increases for the
contract crews that do the
trimming.
To enhance its ability
to monitor on-the-ground
conditions, it also plans
to expand the number of
weather stations deployed
across the state from 20 to
120 by the end of 2022.
Other factors driving the
rate increase include cost
recovery for the fi nal phase
a new Wyoming wind farm
that became operational last
year and general infl ation-
ary costs for labor, insurance
and other items, company
offi cials said. The company
is also asking regulators
to boost its profi t margins,
increasing its allowed return
on equity from 9.5% to 9.8%,
a request sure to be opposed
by ratepayer advocates
given the size of the general
increases being sought.
“Pacif iCor p always
comes in wanting more
money, more profits and
less risk, so all of those
elements are here,” said Bob
Jenks, executive director of
the Oregon Citizens’ Utility
Board, a ratepayer advocacy
group.
Matt McVee, Pacifi-
Corp’s vice president of
regulatory policy and oper-
ations, said the utility has
aggressively managed its
costs, and will also be fi ling
a proposal with regulators
to offer discounted rates
to low-income customers.
In the meantime, he said
that new factors, including
extreme weather events and
the general infl ation impact-
ing all households and busi-
nesses, are increasing utility
costs, too.
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