PacifiCorp appears ready to pass on the costs of legal judgments to ratepayers after a recent multi-million-dollar verdict against the company, and the potential for billions more.
On June 15, PacifiCorp filed paperwork with the Oregon Public Utility Commission requesting permission to defer adding the judgments to its books until June of 2024.
This would not delay payments to plaintiffs, if any, but would allow the company additional time before it had to account for the losses in the calculations it uses to set rates.
The company said in the filing that it hoped to avoid frequent rate increases as individual cases resolved and would rather wait to know the full extent of losses before considering an increase.
A company spokesperson told Our Town the filing was not a request to raise rates and the company has not committed to an increase. He said the filing was a “backstop” to preserve PacifiCorp’s financial stability if rate increases are to be considered.
The Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board has come out against PacifiCorp’s proposal. It filed filed paperwork to intervene in the matter. Executive Director Bob Jenks told KOIN PacifiCorp should not be allowed to pass on these losses to customers, particularly those still recovering from the wildfires at issue.
