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Oregon lawmakers passed a bill to strengthen the state鈥檚 energy assistance program

FILE - Power lines with smoke plumes in the background on July 12, 2021, near Klamath Falls, Ore. On Thursday, lawmakers passed House Bill 3792, which will double the funding for the Oregon Energy Assistance Program to help qualified low-income residents pay their electric bills and avoid having their power turned off.
Nathan Howard
/
AP
FILE - Power lines with smoke plumes in the background on July 12, 2021, near Klamath Falls, Ore. On Thursday, lawmakers passed House Bill 3792, which will double the funding for the Oregon Energy Assistance Program to help qualified low-income residents pay their electric bills and avoid having their power turned off.

House Bill 3792 will double the Oregon Energy Assistance Program from $20 million to $40 million, with the goal of helping more low-income Oregonians pay their energy bills and avoid disconnections.

With federal funding for energy assistance on the chopping block, Oregon lawmakers approved more money for a state program to help qualified utility customers.

Last Thursday, before adjourning the 2025 legislative session on Friday, lawmakers passed House Bill 3792, which will double the funding for the Oregon Energy Assistance Program, from $20 million to $40 million a year. The assistance is meant to help qualified low-income residents pay their electric bills and avoid having their power turned off.

The Oregon Energy Assistance Program is designed to help qualified customers who receive power from Portland General Electric and Pacific Power. Customers qualify depending on the size of the household and annual income.

Pacific Power residential ratepayers pay 69 cents monthly, or per electric bill, into the program. PGE residential customers pay about 60 cents per month. Commercial and industrial customers pay no more than $500.

House Bill 3792 doubles those amounts and increases how much assistance each household can receive. It also creates more flexible payment options.

Anahi Segovia Rodriguez is the energy justice coordinator with the nonprofit Verde. She said the goal is to keep people connected.

鈥淭his is going to help thousands of Oregonians avoid disconnection and long-term debt, which is what we鈥檝e been seeing in the community,鈥 she said.

According to the consumer advocacy group, Oregon Citizens鈥 Utility Board, more than last year. From January through October of 2024, PGE disconnected more than 32,000 customers for nonpayment, the highest number of disconnections over the last five years.

鈥淭he Legislature is taking action now to help fixed-income Oregonians from losing their electricity during cold spells in February or record high temperatures in July and August,鈥 State Rep. Tom Andersen, D-South Salem, said. Andersen is the chief sponsor of the bill, which was introduced in February. 鈥淒isconnections should not be a collection mechanism for our most at-risk Oregonians.鈥

Segovia Rodriguez said increasing the funding for the program will provide stability for households that were struggling to make payments. She said during an energy assistance workshop earlier this year, she met families that had more than $2,000 in past-due bills.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e seeing is a trend of people not being able to afford basic utilities, basic needs, even food. We鈥檝e also been hearing a lot about their increases in utilities,鈥 she said, recalling her group had heard from communities 鈥渨ho were begging us to have these low-income workshops.鈥

The cost of keeping the lights on has increased for residential customers by at least 50% since 2020. Both gas and electric utilities have increased rates almost yearly, sometimes by double digits, impacting Oregonians鈥 ability to balance paying for increased utility costs while also paying for other basic essential necessities.

The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, is a federal program that helps about six million low-income households pay their energy bills.

But the. The federal government gutted the department鈥檚 staff earlier this year and the Trump administration has proposed ending the program altogether, calling it 鈥渦nnecessary.鈥

As utility rates have increased, the Oregon Energy Assistance Program has not increased funding for nearly a decade.

The Oregon Department of Housing and Community Services, which administers the program, reported more than 85,000 customers of PGE and Pacific Power have received funds from the program.

The vast majority of them 鈥 92% of households 鈥 used the funds to avoid being disconnected.

鈥淭he reality is that people are going to be left without a reliable safety net, and this is where House Bill 3792 is going to help fill in the gap,鈥 Segovia Rodriguez said. 鈥淭he best thing that we can do is be proactive about our state-run programs, and we know that this is already working because they run out of money, but it鈥檚 just underfunded, and this bill is going to help fund some of that.鈥

Besides being part of the Oregon Energy Assistance Program, PGE offers ways for its customers to pay their bills, such as by starting a payment plan. But the, saying increasing its customers鈥 rates will not address the 鈥渞oot causes鈥 of high electricity bills. The company said inefficient heat sources are often the main cause of high energy bills.

PGE said the program needs to focus on the most effective and economic use of the funds collected by its customers.

House Bill 3792 now heads to Gov. Tina Kotek鈥檚 desk for signature.

Monica Samayoa is a science and environment reporter for Oregon Public Broadcasting, a JPR news partner. Her reporting comes to JPR through the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
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