FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media hotline: 503-813-6018
Former chief legal officer Ryan Flynn to lead utility through a deeper regional focus
PORTLAND, Ore. (May 2, 2024) — Pacific Power announced today that Ryan Flynn has been appointed president. In his new role, Flynn will be responsible for regional strategy and engagement, and will lead teams focused on customer and community affairs, government affairs and legal.
“Ryan’s extensive knowledge of the regional energy landscape, along with his personal and professional connections to the Pacific Northwest, make him uniquely positioned to lead Pacific Power and address the many challenges facing Western utilities today,” said Cindy Crane, PacifiCorp’s chair and CEO.
Flynn joined PacifiCorp in 2006, holding various positions in the legal department before leaving in 2015 to pursue a family opportunity in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He returned to the company in 2018, where he served as senior vice president and chief legal officer for Pacific Power and was responsible for leading the legal, communications and government affairs teams. Flynn previously worked as a lawyer for Troutman Pepper in Washington, D.C., and Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle, Washington.
Flynn lives in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and is a native Oregonian. He received his bachelor’s degree from Willamette University and his law degree from George Washington University. He is a longtime board member at the Dougy Center, which provides support to grieving children and teens, and serves on the executive committee of the Portland Metro Chamber. He is a former board member of OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
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About Pacific Power
Pacific Power provides safe and reliable electric service to more than 800,000 customers in Oregon, Washington and California. The company supplies customers with electricity from a diverse portfolio of generating plants including hydroelectric, natural gas, coal, wind, geothermal and solar resources. Pacific Power is part of PacifiCorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the United States, with over two million customers in six western states. For more information, visit www.pacificpower.net.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Hotline: 503-813-6018
PORTLAND, OR (May 1, 2024) – To recognize National Wildfire Awareness Month, Pacific Power is encouraging Oregonians to prepare for fire season. Fire weather conditions, such as severe drought combined with summer windstorms or active wildfires, could lead to safety-related power outages.
Long-term forecasts are indicating 2024 will have a warmer and drier than normal summer, with the active portion of fire season arriving in June in most areas, and the peak of fire season in August and September.
Pacific Power is leading the way in wildfire mitigation, investing close to $70 million over the past five years in hardening its grid in Oregon, and the company is working hard to protect customers from the risks associated with wildfires. The company’s mitigation practices are focused on three main areas:
- Situational Awareness: Risk modeling that incorporates 30 years of data to help us assess potential wildfire impacts in different parts of our service area, while daily risk forecasting – through a team of meteorologists using an advanced network of 454 weather stations – provides daily wildfire monitoring and modeling for the states we serve.
- Operational Practices: By employing sensitive protective settings on powerlines when elevated fire risk conditions exist, conducting enhanced vegetation management, having the ability to conduct a Public Safety Power Shutoff anywhere across our service area and having the ability to do an emergency de-energization when a wildfire encroaches near our assets, we have practices in place to help keep our customers and communities safe.
- System Hardening: Investing millions of dollars in infrastructure enhancements that reduce and mitigate risk, concentrated in geographic areas at greatest risk of wildfires. This includes rebuilding lines using covered conductor and more sensitive equipment that can de-energize power lines within fractions of a second when interference is detected.
“Providing safe, reliable electricity is our number one priority,” said Allen Berreth, Pacific Power’s vice president of transmission and distribution operations. “Our heavy investments in wildfire mitigation are driven by our goal of keeping the communities we serve safe.”
Even as electric providers partner with federal, state and local agencies and Tribes to plan and prepare for the upcoming wildfire season, preparedness is a year-round effort, and everyone has a part to play when it comes to readiness.
Resources are available to help every Oregonian take steps to plan ahead and be ready for wildfire-related power outages. At wildfire.oregon.gov, Oregonians can find tips to stay informed, make a plan and trim trees and plants to create defensible spaces around their homes to help slow the spread of wildfire.
Stay in the know
Customers can take steps to make sure they receive wildfire-related information.
- Contact Pacific Power at 1-888-221-7070 or log in to their account at PacificPower.net and make sure all contact information is current. That way, the company can send alerts and messages.
- In addition to having a back-up plan with medical providers, customers who rely on electricity to store medication or operate medical equipment at home should enroll in Pacific Power’s Medical Certificate Program to receive proactive communications about outages.
- Visit Oregon Alert to find your local alert system. Provide current contact details and sign up for wildfire-related alerts.
Make an outage kit
- Prepare a home outage kit in the event wildfire leads to a power outage. Be sure to include shelf-stable food; water for people, pets and livestock; necessary medications; flashlights; batteries; and solar or car chargers for electric devices. Keep ice packs or frozen water in the freezer to help keep food cold until ice is available.
- Businesses should prepare to minimize disruptions, keep employees safe and protect equipment. Outage kits should include flashlights or camp lights for all areas, including restrooms, battery-powered or hand-crank radios for information; battery-powered fans; extra batteries; car chargers for cell phones and electric devices; bottled water; and emergency phone numbers.
Have a plan
- Consider options to relocate with a friend, family member or shelter, especially if a medical condition, medication or equipment requires electricity.
- Businesses should communicate their outage response plans to key employees, plan for workarounds to computers and cash registers, and make a plan to bypass electronic door locks.
- Homes and businesses should consider buying backup generators. Information on how to operate them safely is available on Pacific Power’s website.
- Make a plan for watering livestock if well pumps are without power.
- Know how to open and close electric garage doors and security gates.
- Learn how to protect home and business electronics and appliances against data loss and surge damage when power is restored.
Pacific Power customers can visit pacificpower.net/wildfiresafety for resources and information including an outage preparation checklist for residential and business customers, an interactive map outlining potential public safety power shutoff areas and its 2024 Wildfire Mitigation Plan.
About Pacific Power
Pacific Power provides safe and reliable electric service to more than 800,000 customers in Oregon, Washington and California. The company supplies customers with electricity from a diverse portfolio of generating plants including hydroelectric, natural gas, coal, wind, geothermal and solar resources. Pacific Power is part of PacifiCorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the United States, with 2 million customers in six western states. For more information, visit www.pacificpower.net.
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Media Hotline: 503-813-6018
MEDIA ADVISORY
WHAT: | In preparation for wildfire season, Pacific Power is inviting members of the media to its headquarters at Lloyd Center Tower in Portland to share its outlook for the 2024 wildfire season, along with key elements of its plans to mitigate the threat of wildfire. Pacific Power Vice President of Transmission and Distribution Operations Allen Berreth will discuss the company’s commitment to keeping communities safe during fire season. The company will also provide additional details on this season’s forecast, the use of new mitigation technology and an overview of its investments in wildfire mitigation. Members of the media will also have access to a high-level demonstration of the company’s meteorology and risk modeling capabilities, and will be able to take photos and video of Pacific Power outage response trucks. Media will also have access to one-on-one interviews with Pacific Power executives to discuss the company’s ongoing wildfire mitigation efforts. Additional footage and photos will be provided upon request.
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WHEN: | May 1, 2024, 10:00 am
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WHERE: | Lloyd Center Tower 825 NE Multnomah St Portland, OR 97232
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WHO: | Pacific Power Representatives
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Media Hotline: 503-813-6018
MEDIA ADVISORY:
Drive Electric Earth Month event
Join us at the FREE Electric Vehicle Test Drive and Information Expo hosted by the Oregon Electric Vehicles Association.
Pacific Power is sponsoring and participating in the Drive Electric Earth Month event that features indoor and outdoor rides in electric vehicles.
Stop by the Pacific Power booth to get all your EV questions answered. Meet our EV experts to learn more about electric vehicle ownership topics, such as EV adoption, charging, technology trends and rebates available for businesses and residential customers.
Now is the perfect time to go electric! Discover federal, state and local incentives available for electric vehicle adoption, learn about the growing charging infrastructure in our region, and check out the wide range of EVs available.
WHEN: | April 28, 2024, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
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WHERE: | Daimler Truck North America HQ, Swan Island, 4085 N Anchor St
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WHO: | Pacific Power Officials Electric car dealers Members of the public |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Hotline: 503-813-6018
PORTLAND, OR (April 26, 2024) - PacifiCorp became the first entity in the Western United States to formally commit to a regional coordinated energy market by signing an implementation agreement this week with the California ISO for its Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM).
The EDAM is a voluntary day-ahead electricity market designed to deliver significant reliability, economic, and environmental benefits to balancing areas and utilities throughout the West. Tariff changes allowing the EDAM were approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in December 2023, and the market is on track to become operational in 2026.
PacifiCorp, a Portland-based grid operator that serves customers in California, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, was also the first to publicly announce its intent to join the EDAM in December 2022 to expand on benefits it currently realizes from participation in the ISO’s real-time Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM).
“We are excited to formalize our agreement to become a participant in the EDAM,” said Cindy Crane, chief executive officer for PacifiCorp. “A modern, coordinated day-ahead market in the West is vital to optimizing the region’s energy resources so we can continue to provide reliable and affordable power to our 2 million electricity customers across six states.”
“The momentum we are seeing for participation in the EDAM is very encouraging, and PacifiCorp’s formal commitment brings better definition to the vision of a regional day-ahead electricity market,” said Elliot Mainzer, president and CEO of the ISO. “This is a major piece of a truly collaborative effort to support reliability and affordability for electricity customers by leveraging resource diversity and transmission connectivity across the footprint of the Western grid. We now look forward to continue working with additional valued partners in the West to take the next steps in a fully integrated regional market.”
The WEIM is a real-time energy market that was established by PacifiCorp and the ISO in 2014. It has produced more than $5.6 billion in cumulative economic efficiencies and enhanced reliability by leveraging transmission connectivity and resource diversity across a broad geographical footprint covering 22 entities in 11 states. The market now represents 79 percent of the electricity load in the Western Interconnection.
WEIM participation has delivered more than $745 million in savings to PacifiCorp customers.
The WEIM optimizes the energy imbalances throughout the West by transferring energy between participants in 15-minute and 5-minute intervals throughout the day. The proposed EDAM builds on this real-time market by expanding to a high volume of resource commitments made a day in advance, unlocking far greater market efficiencies and value.
The PacifiCorp implementation agreement is a provision of the ISO tariff, and became effective upon signing of both parties on April 25. PacifiCorp is expected to begin participation in the EDAM in spring 2026.
Currently, four entities have informed the ISO of their interest in joining the EDAM: PacifiCorp, Balancing Authority of Northern California, Portland General Electric, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. A fifth entity, Idaho Power has indicated it is leaning toward the EDAM as its preferred day-ahead market.
For more information, visit the newly launched EDAM webpage on the westerneim.com website.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Hotline: 503-813-6018
YREKA, CA (April 11, 2024) — Pacific Power customers in California can expect to see a credit of $174.25 on their April electricity bill as part of California's efforts to fight climate change. The twice-annual California Climate Credit provides ratepayers with their share of the benefits of California’s Cap-and-Trade Program, which requires large industries that emit greenhouse gases to buy carbon pollution permits.
The majority of these proceeds are split evenly across each residential household and qualifying small business. About 20% of the total proceeds are used for clean energy and energy efficiency programs, administrative and outreach expenses and California Industry Assistance to prevent leakage of emissions to other states.
The California Climate Credit is designed to help customers as the state transitions to a low-carbon future. Each year, the state issues a limited number of greenhouse gas emission allowances in line with California’s goal of reducing its overall emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.
A second credit in the same amount will appear on customers’ October bills.
Customers can call Pacific Power at 888-221-7070 for information about their bill and can learn more about the California Climate Credit at the CPUC website.
(Yreka, CA) - Please join us for an online discussion about the important steps Pacific Power has taken to prepare for wildfire season, protect its electrical grid and keep customers safe.
PacifiCorp (Pacific Power & Rocky Mountain Power) has a long history of planning for and defending against wildfires across the six western states we serve. Protecting our customers and communities while providing safe, reliable power is our highest priority. Join us for this webinar to learn about our comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan.
When: April 10, 2024
What: PacifiCorp representatives will share progress on wildfire mitigation work, including systems hardening, enhanced vegetation management and expanded situational awareness.
About Pacific Power
Pacific Power provides safe and reliable electric service to 800,000 customers in 243 communities across Oregon, Washington and California. Pacific Power is part of PacifiCorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the United States, serving two million customers in six western states as the largest regulated utility owner of wind power in the West. PacifiCorp's long-term resource plan results in a 70% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 and a 100% reduction by 2050. For more information, visit pacificpower.net.