PGE scores win in bid to derail rate case [Video]

PORTLAND, Oregon — Oregon utility regulatory staff lawyers cast doubt on a bid by the state’s residential ratepayer advocate to derail a Portland General Electric 2025 rate increase proposal before fuller consideration by the Public Utility Commission.

PUC staff said they “did not disagree with sentiments underlying” the Citizens’ Utility Board’s motion to dismiss PGE’s general rate case. But the case, though still in its early stages, had moved to a point that requires a hearing as a contested case under provisions of the administrative lawmaking process, they said.

The legal opinion was among formal responses to CUB’s motion to dismiss the rate case, which PGE filed at the end of February. CUB itself has called its motion “unprecedented.”

The typical general rate case is analyzed, argued and negotiated by the utility and stakeholders over 10 months. …