Portland General Electric (PGE) is an investor-owned electrical utility that distributes electricity to customers in parts of Portland, Oregon, as well as parts of Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Washington, and Polk counties - half of the inhabitants of Oregon. In 2002, PGE reported revenues of almost $1.9 billion, and earnings of $66 million.
Although PGE receives most of its electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration, it also produces its own power from a series of hydroelectric sites at dams on the Sandy, Clackamas, Willamette and Deschutes rivers, as well as a number of fossil fuel plants. Between 1976 and 1993, PGE operated the only nuclear power plant in Oregon.
Corporate Officers
PGE currently has 12 corporate officers, who include Peggy Y. Fowler (CEO and president), Frederick D. Miller (executive vice president), and James J. Piro (CFO, executive vice president, and treasurer)
History
The utility was founded in 1889 by Patrick Morey and Edward Eastham as Willamette Falls Electric. This corporation installed a waterfall-powered generator at Willamette Falls to provide electricity to Portland. In the process, this corporation completed the first long-distance transmission line in the United States on June 3 of that year.
Willamette Falls Electric changed its name several times before settling on Portland Electric Power in 1932. Portland Electric Power was reorganized as PGE in 1948.
Ballot measures have been filed by activists several times since the 1960s to convert some or all of PGE into a Public Utility District, the latest of which was in 2003, and most have been unsuccessful. An exception was in 1999, when PGE announced it was selling its customer base in St. Helens, Scappoose, and Columbia City to West Oregon Electric PUD for $7.9 million. The terms of this sale would leave the physical assets of the distribution system -- the poles, wires and other components -- owned by Enron, who would then manage this system as a contractor exempt from state regulation. Voter distrust on both Enron and PGE was severe enough for them to approve the measure, despite $71,592 being spent in advertisements to oppose it, in comparison to the $2,304 spent by supporters. This resulted with those three cities becoming part of the Columbia River PUD on terms far more favorable to the customers; electricity rates immediately dropped in these cities, and remain lower than those for current PGE customers.
On July 1, 1997, Enron Corporation bought PGE for $2 billion in stock and $1.1 billion in assumed debt. Then in 1999, and again in 2001, Enron attempted to sell PGE to other investor-owned utilities. The corporate officers of PGE have claimed that this utility was not involved in the financial misdealings of its owner, pointing to the fact that many of its employees suffered when Enron froze the 401(k) retirement plan and were unable to sell the rapidly declining stock. However, John Forney, an energy trader who invented various electricty trading strategies such as the "Death Star", operated from the trading floor in the PGE corporate offices.
Concerned by uncertainty that the Enron bankruptcy would bring, several local governments began investigation of acquiring PGE by condemnation. These studies were ended following the announcement on November 17, 2003 that a group called Oregon Electric Utility, led by former governor Neil Goldschmidt and backed by Texas Pacific Group, offered to buy PGE for $2.35 billion.
