[CFR-Clips] Oregon PUC Radically Shortchanges Ratepayers on Refund of Trojan Unlawful Profits

[Dan Meek]

October 1, 2008

 

OREGON PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION SEEKS TO COUNTERMAND OREGON SUPREME 
COURT AND LET PGE KEEP OVER $200 MILLION IN UNLAWFUL PROFITS

ON DEAD TROJAN NUCLEAR PLANT

 

 Yesterday the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) issued an order 
in 3 combined rate cases that refuses to return to ratepayers more than 
a small fraction of the money they have paid Portland General Electric 
Co. (PGE) to enable the company to earn huge profits on the Trojan 
nuclear power plant for more than a decade after it permanently closed 
in 1992. Such profits are banned by ORS 757.355, enacted by voters as 
Measure 9 of 1978. This ban was reaffirmed by voters in 2000, who by 
referendum rejected the Legislature's attempt to repeal this statute by 
a vote of over 88% on Measure 90. The cases were back before the OPUC 
because of numerous successful appeals of OPUC rate orders since 1995 to 
the courts by the Utility Reform Project and Class Action Plaintiffs.

 

"The $33.1 million refund ordered by the Commission is only a small 
fraction of what ratepayers are owed by PGE for its unlawful charges for 
Trojan profits after the plant broke down and permanently ceased to 
function," said Dan Meek, co-counsel for the ratepayer-plaintiffs in 
numerous cases involving the Trojan profits.

 

"The Commission's order is based on legal theories that were never 
presented or advocated by any party in the proceeding, including PGE, 
and are contrary to Oregon statutes," added ratepayer-plaintiffs' 
co-counsel Linda Williams. "The Order consumes many pages stating the 
Commission's disagreement on legal issues with the Oregon Supreme Court, 
which has acknowledged ratepayers' rights to class action remedies. The 
Commission appears not to understand that rulings of the Oregon Supreme 
Court are binding on the Commission."

 

Attorneys for the ratepayer-plaintiffs said they fully expect to appeal 
this decision to the courts, where they have succeeded in overturning 
the Commission's earlier decisions involving the Trojan profits. Those 
decisions were issued in 1995 and 2002.

 

The Commission's press release misstates the history of the cases in 
several ways. It fails to note that the Commission expressly allowed PGE 
to charge ratepayers over $33 million per year in profit on Trojan 
during a 5.5-year period starting in 1995, more than 2 years after the 
plant permanently closed. The press release incorrectly characterizes a 
"settlement" among only some of the parties to the case in 2000 as 
"entirely removing the Trojan investment from rates," which the 
Commission's approval of the rump settlement most certainly did not do.
 

 

<http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/S52217.htm>Utility Reform Project

www.utilityreform.org

Daniel Meek

Attorney

503-293-9021 dan at meek.net

	

Linda Williams

Attorney

503-293-9099

linda at lindawilliams.net



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