| Electricity Supply and Oregon |
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| Intro |
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In 1999, electricity accounted for about 20 percent of Oregon’s total energy use. This percentage has been constant since 1980.
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| How Oregon Uses Electricity |
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About the same amount of electricity is used by Oregon’s residential, commercial and industrial sectors.
During the 1990s, industrial per capita use declined 24 percent. This was largely due to plant closures or reduced output from factories, such as aluminum smelters, that are heavy users of electricity.
Residential per capita electricity use declined 2 percent due to offsetting factors. Larger average house size and new end uses, primarily air conditioning, tended to increase electricity consumption. Efficiency improvements, such as better windows and more efficient appliances, tended to decrease use. Residential electricity use also declined because of an increase in natural gas used for space and water heating
Commercial per capita electricity use rose 6 percent during the decade. The primary reason was increased use of office machinery, such as computers. There was also less switching to natural gas in the commercial sector than in the residential sector.
From 1999 to 2001, Oregon per capita electricity use fell about 5 percent. This was mainly due to public appeals for conservation during the drought, a slowdown in the economy and sharply higher prices. This reduction does not include the shutdown of aluminum and other direct industrial customers of the Bonneville Power Administration.
Residential electricity sales fell slightly more than sales to the commercial and industrial sectors. At the end of 2002, both of Oregon’s aluminum smelters were closed, one permanently. This appears to be part of the long-term trend toward a less energy-intensive Oregon economy.
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| Sources of Electricity |
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The three main providers of electricity in Oregon are the investor-owned utilities Portland General Electric (PGE) and Pacific Power (a PacifiCorp company), and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a federal power-marketing agency. The two major sources of electricity in Oregon are hydropower and coal, but natural gas is playing an increasing role in future supplies.
Pacific Power serves 31 percent of Oregon’s electric utility load, providing power to more than 486,000 customers. In 2001, Pacific Power’s mix was based on its generating resources and long-term contracts, as these are sufficient to meet its load.
PGE serves 40 percent of Oregon’s electric utility load, providing power to about 733,000 customers. In 2001, PGE’s own resources and long-term contracts for specific projects served 72 percent of its load. The remainder is based on a calculated regional mix from other resources in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.
The Bonneville Power Administration provides power to Oregon’s 36 consumer-owned utilities as well as to direct-service industrial customers. Consumer-owned utilities include people’s utility districts, municipally-owned utilities and electric cooperatives. Many consumer-owned utilities supplement their Bonneville supplies.
Bonneville also shares the benefits of the federal Columbia River power system with residential and small farm customers of investor-owned utilities in the form of money or power.
In 2001, BPA’s mix was based on its generating resources and long-term contracts, which are sufficient to meet its load.
Idaho Power, another investor-owned utility, serves about 1 percent of Oregon’s electric load.
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| Electricity Price and Supply |
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From May 2000 though June 2001, wholesale prices in the West spiked to several thousand dollars per megawatt-hour. Previously, wholesale electricity prices had ranged from $10 to $50 per megawatt-hour. A megawatt-hour is 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh), which is the amount of electricity the average Oregon household uses in a month. A kilowatt-hour measures the amount of electricity consumed over time.
A combination of market factors caused wholesale prices in the West to soar:
- Growth in electricity use outpaced the growth of supplies.
- A severe drought in the West reduced hydro supplies.
- The price for natural gas to fuel power plants increased.
- Flawed deregulation of California retail markets affected prices throughout the region.
Wholesale prices stabilized by mid-2001 primarily because electricity use declined. Retail rates, though falling somewhat, could remain relatively high in 2003 because of delays in passing on wholesale power costs to customers.
Approximately 4,000 megawatts (MW) of new gas-fired plants were constructed in 2001 in the West, including 667 MW in Oregon. An additional 20,000 MW in the West likely will be finished 2003, making these new plants enough to satisfy 30 percent of the region’s electric load.
The Northwest’s 2002 load declined to that of the 1991 level. There should be adequate power for several years, even in a drought. However, adequate resources do not guarantee stable wholesale prices. The West is dependent on natural gas-fired power plants. If natural gas prices spike, power prices likely will follow.
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| Electricity Conservation |
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Investment in electricity conservation dwindled during the 1990s. Conservation achieved in the Northwest from 1990 to 2000 fell short of levels the Northwest Power Planning Council had targeted as cost-effective. In hindsight, the Planning Council targets were too low because they were based on natural gas price forecasts that were too low. Even so, the region achieved only half of the targets. Oregon’s performance was no better than the region as a whole.
Low wholesale electricity prices in the 1990s contributed to this conservation shortfall in the following ways:
- Investing in conservation when wholesale electricity prices are lower than a utility’s cost-of-service rate tends to increase short-term retail rates.
- Utilities were worried that retail customers might buy wholesale power from independent suppliers and leave utilities burdened with conservation costs.
- BPA feared the potential loss of wholesale customers to the wholesale market.
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| Electricity Contingencies |
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Earthquakes and drought pose the greatest natural risks for Oregon’s electricity supply. A drought would be especially problematic if accompanied by a natural gas shortage or the loss of major transmission lines or power plants. Extremely cold weather also strains supplies.
BPA, Pacific Power and PGE have contingency plans for dealing with short- and long-term electricity shortages. The PUC approves plans from Pacific Power and PGE. Energy and Oregon Emergency Management notify local agencies in case of emergencies.
PGE and Pacific Power have programs to pay customers for reducing use if there is a long-term shortage. During severe long-term shortages, the PUC could require all Oregon electricity consumers to reduce monthly use, relative to the prior year.
During a short-term shortage, utilities ask their customers to make voluntary reductions. If these fall short, utilities can black out individual substations for one or two hours. These events are called rotating outages or rolling blackouts. Critical substations serving hospitals, communications or public safety are exempt. If a substation serves only a few large customers, and those customers reduce their use by the same proportion as the outage, the substation is exempt. For some industrial customers, rotating outages are more disruptive than reducing output or shutting down equipment to achieve equivalent savings.
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| Conservation and curtailment |
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In general, energy conservation is any measure that saves energy. Conservation includes short-term energy-saving measures that immediately reduce the demand on our energy supplies.
In Oregon, residents and businesses can get state tax credits for investing in certain energy efficiency measures. Oregon businesses and governments may also qualify for low-interest, long-term loans for certain energy conservation projects. Some energy efficiency measures require you to spend money, but they pay you back over time with the money you save in energy costs. The Oregon Department of Energy and utilities offer information on energy conservation and incentives for you to invest in energy efficiency. They also can help answer your questions. Call the Energy Trust of Oregon if you are a customer of PGE, Pacific Power or Northwest Natural.
Curtailment in the energy world typically refers to less energy flowing to targeted customers. The word is usually used in reference to utilities and their large electricity and natural gas users. Utilities have "curtailment plans" in place in case a power emergency means they have to shut off power for certain customers. Some utilities also have contracts with some of their customers that allow them to curtail or interrupt the flow of energy under certain conditions.
Similar to curtailment programs, some utilities in Oregon also have "demand-exchange" programs for their large energy users. Under these programs, utilities buy back the energy these customers would have used when demand for electricity -- and its price -- is particularly high.
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| Energy Assistance |
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These resources may help if your house is uncomfortably cold
or if you are having difficulty paying your energy bills:
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