More than 8,700 Oregon homes lost utility service in April because they hadn’t been paying their bills, the highest tally since the state began collecting this data six years ago.
The majority of cutoffs were brief. Utilities reported nearly 7,000 service reconnections in April, apparently because customers paid their bills or agreed to do so, perhaps with help from a payment assistance program. Portland General Electric, Oregon’s largest utility, said three-quarters of customers it disconnected for nonpayment were reconnected within a week.
Ratepayer advocates nonetheless see the spike in shutoffs as a warning sign, an indication that more Oregonians are struggling to cope with the rapidly rising cost of electricity and natural gas.
“This is caused by a combination of utility rate hikes and the cold weather we experienced in January,” Bob Jenks, executive director of the nonprofit Citizens Utility Board, testified at a legislative hearing late last month.
Oregon’s biggest utilities have raised rates between 35% and 44% since October 2021, according to Jenks. He said utility shutoffs often spike about three months after a cold-weather event because customers typically have 60 days to pay bills after they arrive in the mail.
The Oregon Public Utility Commission said it’s studying the spike in service cutoffs but isn’t convinced that higher rates or last winter’s severe weather explain them.
Oregon forbade utilities from cutting off service in most of 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19, and the utility commission said some customers fell far behind on their bills during that period. The commission said utilities have told it that some of those customers are just now facing cutoff because of extremely high past-due balances.
“The recent increase in disconnections is that we are seeing is likely from knock-on effects from the pandemic,” the commission said in a statement.
At the end of December, PGE told state regulators that a little more than 106,000 of its 820,000 residential customers were behind on their bills – but the report didn’t say how much they owed, or how far behind they were. Some might have been just a month or two past due.
Oregon stopped collecting data on how many utility customers are in arrears at the end of December. The utility commission says it may resume collecting that data but hasn’t yet.
Oregon has several programs to help families who fall behind in their utility bills. Oregon Housing and Community Services posts a list of agencies in each county that can assist customers with their bills. It helped nearly 154,000 households pay their bill over five years ending in the fall of 2022, according to the most recent data available.
Assistance with utility bills is also available by dialing 211 or through the utility commission and the utilities themselves.
Regardless, Jenks said the spike in disconnections should have Oregon thinking about the financial impacts of higher rates and extreme weather. He warned that this spring’s spike in shutoffs may not be an aberration.
“It’s not getting any better,” Jenks said. “There’s no reason to believe next winter will be any easier for customers.”
Kristine de Leon contributed to this report.
This is Oregon Insight, The Oregonian’s weekly look at the numbers behind the state’s economy. View past installments here.
— Mike Rogoway covers Oregon technology and the state economy. Reach him at mrogoway@oregonian.com.
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