The season ended in one bad inning.
For diehard New York Yankee fans like the Case family, it was a magical season right up until the fifth inning of Game 6 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, when we witnessed a series of miscues we expect from Little Leaguers, not big leaguers.
But anyone can have a bad day. It happens. The Yankees will shrug it off and wait for next year. But a bad day for Oregon electric co-ops could mean there is no next year.
Our feature story on Columbia Power’s perils this wildfire season shows how quickly things can go sideways for electric co-ops serving high wildfire-risk areas. Columbia Power did not just have a bad day—it had a bad two months through no fault of its own. It is an amazing story of resilience, but just like my Yankees, no utility can be error-free, either.
An errant spark, like an errant throw, can change everything in an instant. As I have written in previous columns, the wildfire liability threat hanging over utilities threatens basic electric service in rural and frontier communities. We are hopeful the 2025 Oregon Legislature will address this challenge, for we all want healthy communities, healthy forests, and healthy utilities.
There will be other issues to work on next year: legislation capping electric utility rate increases, streamlining transmission development, prohibiting disconnections for nonpayment, and much more. The Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association has likely never faced a more consequential legislative session.
Until that day, we want to thank ORECA members, our associate members, and the public power community for our incredible partnership in 2024. We take the field each day because of the amazing people in this association, for whom the season never ends. There is no championship ring or victory parade for providing affordable, reliable, and safe power. Only the privilege— we hope—of doing it again next year.
Happy holidays.
Executive Director
Ted Case
