For five years after Portland General Electric’s former parent, Enron, declared bankruptcy in 2001, various politicians—most notably former Portland City Commissioner Erik Sten—tried to find ways for the public to buy the state’s largest utility. Private investors tried as well.
Although PGE and the state’s second largest utility, PacifiCorp, are investor-owned, publicly owned utilities are common around the country. Residents of Los Angeles, Seattle, Orlando and many other large cities get their electricity from publicly-owned sources.
In 2005, Oregon lawmakers led by Sens. Ryan Deckert (D-Beaverton), Dave Nelson (R-Pendleton) and Rep. Vicki Berger (R-Salem) pushed Senate Bill 1008 through both houses of the Legislature. The bill would have created Oregon Community Power, an entity that would have established a structure for the state to acquire PGE. Gov. Ted Kulongoski vetoed the bill. And in 2006, PGE sold stock to investors ending, at least temporarily, interest in a public takeover.
But proponents of public ownership quietly came back with a related bill in 2007 that put into law most of the structure necessary for Oregon Community Power to buy PGE.
As soon as tomorrow, Berger will introduce a bill aimed at using that structure.
“It’s my priority bill and it basically says Oregon Community Power may use eminent domain to acquire PGE,” Berger says.
Berger, a fourth-term representative whose father wrote Oregon’s bottle bill, says she was motivated by recent news accounts of retiring PGE CEO Peggy Fowler’s $4.5 million compensation. She says she thinks such payments mean the utility is putting executives and stockholders’ interests ahead of ratepayers’ interests and therefore, electricity rates are higher than they should be.
“I think if PGE has $4.5 million to give away to Peggy Fowler, their rates are too high,” Berger says. “I’m aware of other models such as Seattle Power and Light where public ownership works just fine.”
PGE spokesman Steve Corson says the utility does not yet have information about Berger’s plans. “I’m hearing rumors of a bill, but have no specifics,” Corson says.
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Tags: Peggy Fowler, PGE, Vicki Berger
This state couldn’t run a lemonade stand. The only thing this state is good at running is businesses into the ground.
Rep. Vicki Berger says she thinks PGE is putting executives and stockholders’ interests ahead of ratepayers’ interests. She is entirely right, but that is what an investor-owned utility is supposed to do. By law, their first obligation is to their stockholders. And that is the problem with having electricity supplied by an IOU: they can’t help but work against the interests of their customers.
And that is why we so desperately need to use eminent domain to take over private utilities, PGE most of all.
This is a great idea, I hope it works, Eugene has a functioning Public Power and Water Utility; EWEB that might be a good model to look towards. Way to go Vicki, I like hearing about a Republican that thinks outside the box, strange but cool, good luck.
You go, Vicky Berger!
I think this is a great idea. All of the letters to the editor saying the investors are paying for Fowler’s retirement out of their profits so the ratepayers shouldn’t be upset are a load of codswallop. Where do you think the investors got their profits? Public ownership is ideal. Look at Clark PUD in Vancouver
Hey – can we get Congress to include Peggy’s golden parachute in the 90% tax bracket? Better yet, how about we ask her to donate to all the PGE employees that lost their shirts (and their retirement accounts) to the Enron theft.
Ah, another all-government-is-evil bubblehead who prefers to be hosed by the private sector. Here’s a secret: THE VERY SAME PEOPLE WHO "RUN" PGE NOW WILL RUN IT WHEN IT IS OWNED BY RATEPAYERS. What will be missing will be the kings and queens who view PGE as their personal piggy bank, the top-heavy management, and the ridiculously numerous lobbyists (oh, excuse me, "government affairs" people).
Ownership is entirely different from management. I want to be part owner of PGE. The fine employees of PGE can continue doing the great jobs they’ve always done, absent overpaid executives who do nothing constructive.
Haven’t read up much on how this exact scenario has worked successfully all over the country, have you?
Nah. you’re just ranting.
Just “ranting”. Why don’t you talk to some of the ratepayer owned utilities right here in Oregon? See: http://www.opuda.org/
Better rates. Better service. No stupid management moves like merging with Enron or recommending being bought by corporate pirates like Texas Pacific.
Judging from the economically well reasoned discussion so far it as apparent that "ignorance is bliss and you people are euphoric’. The lowest cost utility operating systems are all publically traded private sector entities. The least cost effective are public utility districts and the only reason they continue to operate is through government granted monopolies and "friendly" state utility commissions which do nothing to control cost and continue to rubber stamp the annual rate proposals submitted by the PUD’s. Public ownership of PGE will only affect the rate structure and the service by increasing rates to pay for the buy-out of PGE (eminent domain does not mean free) so there will be interest payments on the capital used to purchase PGE for the next 30 years. And forcing transfer of ownership of PGE from private investors to a PUD structure means the PUD has to acquire all of the assets which include coal-fired plants that have the potential for hundreds of millions of dollars clean, retro fitting and ultimately decommissioning. The one thing apparent from the above comments and the bad ideas being formulated in Salem are that none of you have any basic concept of electrical utility generation, distribution, financing or even basic business accounting and economics.
Enron’s scandals and Peggy’s golden parachute are handy points of outrage, but the best reason for making PGE public is the billions of dollars they continue to suck out of Oregon’s economy with higher than necessary rates.
Want economic stimulus? Make PGE public.
Well, Larry Hellie, what are to expect from a global warming denier and professional compensation consultant who probably is responsible for PGE’s bloated management expense.
You obviously know nothing about how utilities are structured. PGE is a public utility, not to be confused with a People’s Utility District (also a PUD).
I don’t know where you get the myth that stockholder owned utilities are cheaper. Where? You might check http://www.opuda.org/ to get some real facts. Name one people’s utility district whose top two managers were paid $110 mil. in bonuses for sealing the Enron merger deal, the most massively stupid and corrupt move in Oregon business history. I’ll take a ratepayer owned entity any day.