PGE files request for 7.4% rate increase in 2025
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A new announcement from Portland General Electric may have you wanting to dim the lights.
On Thursday, the utility company filed a request for a 7.4% rate increase in 2025. According to a recent post on social media, the proposed increase would support “investments in local battery energy storage systems to enhance reliability and flexibility, and other system upgrades.”
This comes after the Oregon Public Utility Commission approved an estimated rate increase of roughly 17% this year for PGE customers.
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The request now falls in the hands of the utility commission, which will conduct a 10-month review including customer testimonies, hearings and a financial analysis.
PGE recently expanded its income-based discount program which may offer 60% discounts to 85,000 eligible customers. The Income-Qualified Bill Discount program was previously capped at 25% when the program launched in 2022.
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Program eligibility is based on household size and average annual gross income. Since 2022, the program has grown by 65%, with over 75,000 customers currently enrolled, PGE said.
News of the rate hike request comes after PGE suffered a $30 million loss from the January 2024 ice storm that led to 165,000 power outages at once and more than half a million total throughout the week-long storm.
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After the ice storm, Bob Jenks of the Oregon Citizen Utility Board told KOIN 6 he took issue with the two rate increases PGE has put on its customers since 2022. He calculated that it was a 30% total increase in that time.
“What really needs to happen right now is a focus on helping customers manage the rate increases that already happened, not looking for ways to have more rate increases,” he said.
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