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

On Thursday, 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.

“This is going to help thousands of Oregonians avoid disconnection and long-term debt, which is what we’ve been seeing in the community,” she said.

According to the consumer advocacy group, Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, more than 70,000 households were disconnected for nonpayment 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.

“The 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,” State Rep. Tom Andersen, D-South Salem, said. Andersen is the chief sponsor of the bill, which was introduced in February. “Disconnections should not be a collection mechanism for our most at-risk Oregonians.”

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.

“What we’re seeing is a trend of people not being able to afford basic utilities, basic needs, even food. We’ve also been hearing a lot about their increases in utilities,” she said, recalling her group had heard from communities “who were begging us to have these low-income workshops.”

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’ 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 program is in jeopardy. The federal government gutted the department’s staff earlier this year and the Trump administration has proposed ending the program altogether, calling it “unnecessary.”

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 — 92% of households — used the funds to avoid being disconnected.

“The 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,” Segovia Rodriguez said. “The 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’s just underfunded, and this bill is going to help fund some of that.”

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 company opposed the bill earlier this year, saying increasing its customers’ rates will not address the “root causes” 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’s desk for signature.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/27/oregon-house-bill-3792-oregon-energy-assistance-electric-bills/