Portland goes after PGE

PORTLAND (AP) - The friction between Portland and Portland General Electric worsened with city commissioners voting to subpoena financial documents as part of an investigation into the utility's rates.

City commissioners said if the investigation confirms suspicions of inflated rates, they are prepared to exercise a never-used state law to lower rates for the city's 200,000 PGE customers. Scott Simms, a PGE spokesman, said Wednesday the city does not have the authority to examine the documents or even conduct the investigation. He said PGE will fight the subpoena.

At the same time, PGE has petitioned state regulators for an overall rate increase of 8.9 percent, citing rising power costs and a new natural gas-fired power plant.

But the size of the proposed increase, the first significant jump in five years, drew immediate questions from some consumers.

“The power costs seem big,” said Bob Jenks, executive director of the Citizens' Utility Board, an organization representing residential customers. “We're clearly going to have to take a close look at that.”

An average residential customer who uses 900 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month would see a monthly bill of $85.11, up from $78.47.