PacifiCorp’s multibillion-dollar plan to meet customers’ energy needs over the next two decades has hit a serious roadblock.
PacifiCorp’s multibillion-dollar plan to meet customers’ energy needs over the next two decades hit a serious roadblock in Salem on Tuesday when state regulators not only declined to approve the latest version, but threatened to abandon the entire process.
Stumbling points, they said, include the complexity of dividing costs and benefits across the utility’s six-state service territory, and the transparency and adequacy of its plans for coal plant upgrades and transmission lines.
John Savage, a longtime member of the Oregon Public Utility Commission, expressed open frustration with the utility, to the point of having to apologize for making “snarky” comments about its plan. He was particularly worked up about inconsistent investments in energy efficiency across PacifiCorp’s service territory, and resulting inequities in which ratepayers should shoulder the costs for new power plants.
