Pacific Power Cutting Dozens of Jobs

Saying electricity demand is not rebounding as much as expected, Pacific Power is eliminating nearly 70 positions, primarily on the West Coast, including four in Bend, a utility spokesman said Friday.

While that?s a small percentage of the utility?s nearly 6,500 employees, the reasons focus on a still-struggling economy and Pacific Power?s effort to delay or cut power projects so it doesn?t have to seek as many rate increases.

Among the other cuts ? about 20 in Portland, six in Roseburg, five in Medford and four in Klamath Falls.

?We?re trying to move people into comparable open positions,? said spokesman Bob Gravely.

?Demand has been down for several years, since 2007 or 2008,? Gravely said. ?At first, we expected that to bounce back some. And it really hasn?t, and we don?t expect it will for a while.?

?We?ve also had to file rate cases and increase rates several times in the past few years, to pay for the system we?re building,? he explained. ?Now that we don?t think demand is coming back as quickly, we?re re-evaluating some of our builds and business plan, possibly to delay or eliminate some of our investments, to take pressure off our rates.?

?Fewer projects mean less work,? Gravely said. ?Our goal is to reduce the amount and frequency of future rate cases, and we?re going to do that in part by matching our workforce with the amount of work we need to do.?

Pacific Power has 87 Central Oregon employees, including 72 in Bend and 15 more between Madras and Prineville, Gravely said. The eliminated positions include union and non-union jobs, he added.