Dec. 29, 2008

SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) today announced its decision regarding Portland General Electric’s (PGE) 2009 general rate case, ending a 10-month public review process. The OPUC approved an overall price increase of approximately 7.6 percent, which will be allocated across all PGE customer classes. Because of other price adjustments, including a reduction to reflect less-than-anticipated power costs in 2007, customers will actually see an overall increase of about 5.6 percent in their electric bills. The price increase will take effect January 1, 2009.

“We constantly evaluate our operating expenses to ensure that we are running our business in a cost-efficient manner for our customers,” said Jim Piro, PGE’s CFO and CEO-designate. “We put a reasonable, fully-justified rate case before the Commission, and worked over the past ten months with all parties to come to a fair conclusion.

"We were able to work with the Commission staff and other interveners to achieve agreement on power costs, capital structure and return on equity among other issues. However, given the Commission’s decision on outstanding issues, we must now determine the impact of this decision on our operations and re-evaluate priorities.”

The OPUC has estimated the following impact of today’s action across PGE’s major cost-of-service customer classes: Residential customers will see an average 5.9 percent increase in their prices; mid-sized non-residential and farm customers a 3.9 percent increase; and large, non-residential customers a 5.7 percent increase.

About three quarters of the increase stems directly from higher wholesale power and fuel costs. The remaining quarter reflects operating and maintenance costs, as well as system investment costs.

The rate case reflects a 50 percent equity capital structure and a 10.1 percent return on equity. To see the OPUC’s order, visit www.oregon.gov/puc.