Oregon PUC sides with PacifiCorp secrecy, leaving 2 million customers in the dark on coal costs

The Oregon Public Utilities Commission-- the same commission that required PacifiCorp to do an economic analysis of it coal fleet—just decided to keep the results of that analysis secret. Sierra Club had challenged the company’s request to hide the study from the public. The commission chose to uphold the status quo by continuing to make critical decisions based on information largely hidden from the public. This comes after PacifiCorp sought a restraining order against the Washington Public Utilities Commission for choosing to release the results of the study so customers could get an idea of whether they were paying for the most economic resource mix.

Next month, a judge in Washington state will determine if the restraining order will be lifted and the information shared with the utility’s nearly two million customers. We believe that if this information is revealed, it will confirm what a recent independent analysis showed: at least half of the utility’s 22 coal units cost customers more to run than cheaper and more reliable resources.

Cesia Kearns, Deputy Director of the West for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, issued the following statement:

“Oregon energy regulators, charged with protecting customers’ interests against large for-profit energy companies, chose to protect PacifiCorp’s desire for secrecy. This massive utility is doing everything it can to hide what we know to be true-- at least half of its coal fleet is costing its customers millions of dollars every year. Deliberately withholding this information keeps nearly two million customers in the dark on how their money is being spent on energy and will delay planning for the clean energy future that will benefit communities, workers and families.”