An April deadline has been set for state regulators to determine whether or not PacifiCorp can change its contract with ratepayers to significantly limit lawsuits, including those for wildfires.
The Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) has until April 9 to issue a final order on PacifiCorp’s request to add a limited liability clause to its user application for electric service.
This deadline was set Dec. 20, 2023, by Administrative Law Judge Katherine Mapes following a virtual conference the previous day to discuss timelines and expectations for the matter.
The order also gave PacifiCorp until Jan. 23 to file an opening brief, while PUC staff and intervenors were given until Feb. 20 for their briefs.
PacifiCorp originally filed a request with PUC Oct. 24, 2023, to modify its application for electric service.
The proposed change would prohibit customers from filing lawsuits except for what PacifiCorp called “actual damages” from physical losses directly resulting from the use of its services. This would exclude losses from the 2020 Labor Day fires, which are the subject of multiple pending lawsuits, and similar disasters caused instead by storm damage to PacifiCorp equipment.
The company said these changes were needed because their credit rating was downgraded after wildfire survivors were awarded $90 million in June in James et al vs. PacifiCorp. A Portland jury had found the company liable for the Santiam, South Obenchain, Echo Mountain Complex and 242 fires in 2020.
The Oct. 24 request said the contract amendment would help improve the company’s borrowing ability and prevent further downgrades from other pending lawsuits. It requested the changes go into effect Nov. 29 and that all customers enter into this new agreement by virtue of using its services.
PUC suspended the matter Nov. 28 after staff said they required time to research whether or not the request was legal or had precedent.
The proposed change also caught the attention of other utilities and consumer rights advocates. Since the initial filing, petitions to intervene were filed by Oregon Citizens Utility Board (CUB), Oregon Consumer Justice, Alliance of Western Energy Consumers and Idaho Power.
CUB was entitled to intervene by law, while the remaining petitions were approved in Mapes’ order.
One pending petition to intervene was filed Dec. 18 by Samuel Drevo on behalf of the James class, of which Drevo is a member. PacifiCorp said it was unsure whether or not a class of litigants could receive intervenor status. Mapes gave the company until Dec. 29 to file a brief opposing the petition.
Drevo’s petition said PacifiCorp’s seeks to “eliminate many categories of damages” and that he and class members were directly impacted and should be allowed to participate in proceedings.
