What portion of the settlement will be returned directly to Oregon energy consumers?
The Department of Justice will distribute $8 million in refunds to energy consumers in Oregon on a pro rata basis based on each consumer’s exposure to the volatility of the western wholesale electricity market. The Department’s investigators determined that ratepayer losses attributable to this case are between $4 million and $8 million. Consequently, the $8 million repayment reflects the maximum harm endured by Oregon residential and commercial consumers related to this case. How will the settlement be distributed? For the purpose of distributing the $8 million, the PUC is in the process of collecting and analyzing the data necessary to establish the wholesale market exposure of each Oregon utility. As determined by the PUC’s calculations, a portion of the funds will be disseminated to the investor owned utilities (PGE, PacifiCorp and Idaho Power) on the condition that they place a one-time credit on consumers’ monthly bills, adjusted to reflect each customer’s usage. A similar allotm
