Pacific Power says its customers—that’d be you, Northeast Portland—are in pecuniary trouble if the state won’t modify rules about how it has to purchase renewable energy. We reported this week that the company’s asking the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) for changes to those rules—changes clean power advocates say could imperil the future of solar and wind power in Oregon.
The power company has suggested it’s folly to lump in climate action with the changes it wants to make. City of Portland officials disagree.
Following a vote by Portland City Council yesterday, the city’s offering its own thoughts on the matter. The City Attorney’s Office has filed a petition with the PUC, asking to have a say in the pending case. That makes sense. The city’s got a Climate Action Plan that calls for more solar, and designs on converting a vacant parcel owned by the Portland Water Bureau into a two megawatt solar farm.
As we’ve reported, Portland’s submitting weaker language than initially planned, after Pacific’s parent company, PacifiCorp, requested a meeting with officials. But the general argument is still the same: Pacific says it’s acting in the interest of its customers (who currently pay an average of $12.50 more a year than they otherwise would because of the type of power that’s being fought over). The city, like a lot of people who are speaking in this case, says that doesn’t add up.
Here’s the argument Portland attorneys plan to make:
