[CFR-Clips] Republican to Introduce Bill to Give State Power to Condemn and Acquire PGE

[Dan Meek]

  Will Oregon Lawmakers Get The State to Buy PGE?

March 24th 2009 5:35pm

BY: Nigel Jaquiss <http://www.wweek.com/wwire/?author_id=21>

Biglow Canyon <http://www.flickr.com/photos/31222852@N00/3383793588/>

For five years after Portland General Electric's former parent, Enron, 
declared bankruptcy in 2001, various politicians---most notably former 
Portland City Commissioner Erik Sten 
<http://wweek.com/editorial/3408/10186/>---tried to find ways 
<http://wweek.com/editorial/3204/7006/> for the public to buy the 
state's largest utility. Private investors 
<http://wweek.com/story.php?story=6127#comments_add> tried as well.

Although PGE and the state's second largest utility, PacifiCorp, are 
investor-owned, publicly owned utilities are common around the country. 
Residents of Los Angeles, Seattle, Orlando and many other large cities 
get their electricity from publicly-owned sources.

In 2005, Oregon lawmakers led by Sens. Ryan Deckert (D-Beaverton), Dave 
Nelson (R-Pendleton) and Rep. Vicki Berger (R-Salem) pushed Senate Bill 
1008 through both houses of the Legislature. The bill would have created 
Oregon Community Power 
<http://oregoncub.org/archives/2005/05/senate_passes_o.php>, an entity 
that would have established a structure for the state to acquire PGE. 
Gov. Ted Kulongoski vetoed the bill. And in 2006, PGE sold stock to 
investors ending, at least temporarily, interest in a public takeover.

But proponents of public ownership quietly came back with a related bill 
in 2007 that put into law most of the structure necessary for Oregon 
Community Power to buy PGE.

As soon as tomorrow, Berger will introduce a bill aimed at using that 
structure.

"It's my priority bill and it basically says Oregon Community Power may 
use eminent domain to acquire PGE," Berger says.

Berger, a fourth-term representative whose father wrote Oregon's bottle 
bill, says she was motivated by recent news accounts 
<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf?/base/news/1237607708116510.xml&coll=7> 
of retiring PGE CEO Peggy Fowler's $4.5 million compensation. She says 
she thinks such payments mean the utility is putting executives and 
stockholders' interests ahead of ratepayers' interests and therefore, 
electricity rates are higher than they should be.

"I think if PGE has $4.5 million to give away to Peggy Fowler, their 
rates are too high," Berger says. "I'm aware of other models such as 
Seattle Power and Light where public ownership works just fine."

PGE spokesman Steve Corson says the utility does not yet have 
information about Berger's plans. "I'm hearing rumors of a bill, but 
have no specifics," Corson says.

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