A federal court order sought by the state is working its way into power bills across Oregon.
By Ted Case
For decades, hydropower from the Columbia and Snake rivers has kept electricity affordable and reliable for Oregon’s electric cooperatives and the communities they serve. That system is now under strain.
Last winter, a federal district court in Oregon ordered dam operators to spill more water past the dams, sending it over spillways in what appears to be a flawed attempt to help fish pass through the dams.
The result is that less water flows through turbines to generate electricity. The change cuts into the hydropower supply that 1 million Oregonians served by consumer-owned utilities—including the state’s electric cooperatives—depend on.
In response, Bonneville Power Administration, which supplies most of the power Oregon’s electric cooperatives buy, has opened a formal rate case—a process BPA calls a Section 7(i) proceeding.
BPA formally opened the expedited BP-27 rate increase on September 17. According to the announcement, the agency faces a $250 million revenue shortfall following the court order and will seek rate adjustments to recover the cost.
BPA staff have indicated the adjustment could reach 6.3% for power sold to Oregon utilities.
“Oregonians deserve transparency about what’s driving their electric bills higher,” said Kyle Roadman, general manager of Emerald People’s Utility District in Eugene. “The state’s decision to join federal litigation affecting the Columbia River hydropower system carries real financial consequences. These are costs that nonprofit utilities and our customers cannot simply absorb, and that will ultimately show up in electric bills.”
The federal lawsuit, joined by the Kotek administration, won a court order to divert water past the dams instead of through power-generating turbines. This reduces the amount of hydropower BPA can generate and sell, causing the agency to seek a rate adjustment to recover lost revenue necessary for its operations.
BPA is the majority power supplier to consumer-owned utilities, which serve more than 1 million Oregonians.
“Hydropower has kept Oregon’s electricity affordable and reliable for decades, preventing the sprawling blackouts common in places like California and Texas,” said Salem Electric General Manager Tony Schacher. “Gov. Kotek’s anti-hydropower lawsuit will cause higher bills, less reliability, and more reliance on fossil fuels. The cost burden will fall on the most vulnerable Oregonians, who will be left wondering if they should pay their electricity bill or cover other essential needs, like food or medicine.”
It is worth noting the court-ordered spill hasn’t even delivered for fish. At Lower Monumental Dam and again at John Day Dam this spring, the untested spill regime coincided with steep, sudden drops in adult salmon returns. At John Day, average daily Chinook counts fell from 2,222 to just 483 before a temporary emergency reduction in spill brought counts back up to 1,275 a day.
In other words, Oregon’s lawsuit has managed the rare feat of failing on both fronts at once. It’s driving up the cost of power for rural families while doing measurable harm to the very salmon runs it was supposed to protect.
Oregon’s electric cooperatives support healthy salmon runs. They also believe the costs of protecting them shouldn’t fall quietly on the backs of rural electric customers who had no say in the litigation that produced this outcome.
Co-op leaders across the state are asking Oregon’s leaders to weigh the affordability trade-offs of this case as carefully as they weigh everything else and to work with them on solutions that protect fish and family budgets.