Rates set to jump for Pacific Power, PGE customers in January.
Published: Friday, December 17, 2010, 9:24 PM Updated: Friday, December 17, 2010, 9:24 PM
By Ted Sickinger, The Oregonian Come New Year’s, better strip the lights off the house and the Christmas tree ASAP.
Customers of Pacific Power will see their electric rates spike 14.5 percent in January. The increase comes in a one-two punch: an 8.4 percent general rate increase state utility regulators approved Friday, and a 6.1 percent increase for increased power costs they are expected to approve Dec. 28. Both take effect Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, customers of the state’s largest electric utility, Portland General Electric Co., will see a lesser, but still significant, rate increase of about 3.9 percent. A few mandatory cost adjustments in the works will bump that overall increase to 4.2 percent, effective Jan. 1.
The biggest factor driving the increases: renewable power.
Oregon’s public policy choices during the past few years are coming home to roost in rates, a trend that will continue and likely be exacerbated in coming years by environmental edicts dealing with global warming and haze reduction.
For the time being, state mandates requiring utilities to meet 25 percent of customer demand with renewable power by 2025 — with interim targets before then — are jump-starting utility investments in wind farms, hydroelectric projects and the transmission lines to access remote, windy areas. Those projects have a long life span and low fuel costs. But the upfront capital costs are steep, and the resource is intermittent.
The largest part of Pacific Power’s general rate case was driven by a new transmission line and the two new Wyoming wind farms it connects to the utility’s customers. The company also installed pollution controls at a coal plant in Wyoming and needs to replace cheap electricity it has been buying under long-term contracts that are expiring.
“It’s a big increase,” said Pat Egan, a spokesman for Pacific Power. “We know this is not a great time for this.”
But in the end, he said, the utility has little choice. It has been told to invest in renewables.
Full story here
h/t to WUWT reader Steve in Oregon
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It’s easy to see why Pacific Power put wind farms in Wyoming and then built transmission lines to it:
I wonder how Portland General will meet their mission if they get too much reliance on wind, and not enough backup? The “reasonable price” directive seems to be out the window already:
According to their current figures filed with the SEC, hydro and wind combined makes up 29%. That sure is a lot of power uncertainty to connect to the vagaries of wind and weather.
SPAIN
Following an auction of wholesale electricity supply, combined with “technical adjustments” to the wholesale price, the cost of domestic electricity is expected to rocket in price by up to 10% in January 2011, compared to October of 2010.
The January revision is the first of the new year. During 2010, the retail cost suffered two increases, one in January of 2.6% and one in October of 4.8%.
http://www.theleader.info/article/26359/spain/costa-blanca/shocking-electricity-price-hike/
Massively subsidizing wind, solar, and other expensive types of electricity production
The Problem with Spain’s Green Jobs Model
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30316
With a number of States facing bankruptcy, the progressive buzzword “unsustainable” may come back to haunt them.
It’s now in my everyday vocabulary for use in any discussion with “progressives”.
Pass it on.
François GM says:
December 19, 2010 at 11:30 am
So, what happens if the 25% target isn’t reached by 2025 ?
Francois, is the answer not obvious? Prices will continue to rise until consumer demand is reduced to the point that energy supplied by renewables equals the magic 25%.
Mkelley says:
December 19, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Nice name. Strange spelling.
“”””” Roger Sowell says:
December 19, 2010 at 5:54 pm
@harrywr2 on December 19, 2010 at 4:48 pm
“Nice idea, personally I think raising Lake Ontario one foot will be cheaper.”
Another proposal is to use the natural bays to our advantage. One proposal I have is to build a dam across the Gulf of California (Baja California) connecting Mexico with Isla Tiburon, Isla Turon, Isla San Lorenzo, and the Baja peninsula. “””””
Best to stay with your day job Roger.
Do you have any idea what the total economic productivity of the Sea of Cortez, and it’s commmunities is ?
There’s not a high enough electricity rate that people would pay, that would justify destroying one of the great salt water habitats on this planet.
Why not simply build two dams going from the northern and southern tips of Catalina Island, over to the shorelines of LA and I’d connect from about the Santa Monica pier down to San Jan Capistrano; and then collect the tidal energy inside that vast useless region. Well it might be inconvenient for the beautiful people of Newport Beach and the like; and mess with their boating; but they can afford to move to other nice places like Bahrain.
I’m just glad I switched to Natural Gas a few years ago. The gas company is going to give us a price decrease this winter of nearly 4%. It’s just too bad that natural gas powers only my hot water and heating while my electric remains about the same year around. The savings I get from the natural gas won’t offset the increases from the electric company.
Oregonians had a nuclear power plant right there in Portland for about 20 years, steadily cranking out baseload electric power. The state’s hysterical ecoholics viscerally hated the thing and tried repeatedly to have it shut down in a series of popular referenda, all of which were rejected by the voters.
The owners of the plant finally agreed to an early decommissioning during the low prices and energy glut of the early 1990s. Keeping the plant in operation didn’t look as though it was an economically sensible idea at the time.
I suspect that many residents of Oregon are going to be recalling that plant very wistfully once their energy bills for “green, renewable” electricity from wind start to steadily eat up more and more of their monthly paychecks.
To say nothing of when they have the experience — already encountered several times in Europe — of having those very costly wind turbines lie completely becalmed and useless during periods of intense winter cold.
Too late! That reactor is gone for good.
Hydro does count toward satisfying Oregan’s “Renewable Portfolio Standard”; here is the link:
http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfmIncentive_Code=OR22R&re=1&ee=1
All other points are valid to some extent and the price of energy will continue to rise; the low price of natural gas coupled with falling demand due to the depressed economy have “buffered” the impact of these increases, but the the time will come demand starts to grow and prices will increase across the board, not only for “energy” but for goods and services requiring energy.
Hopefully, the new emphasis on “energy efficiency” will help balance the load and offset some of these impacts… hopefully.