Idaho Power transfers portion of ownership to Oregon agency

A small percentage of Idaho Power‘s ownership will now be held by an Oregon entity.

On Feb. 19, Idaho Power announced that it had sold its service area in Oregon for $154 million to the Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative. The sale will be final upon the approval of federal and state regulation agencies.

The region represents 20,000 residential, commercial, irrigation and industrial customers throughout Baker, Grant, Harney and Union counties in Oregon.

“This decision reflects Idaho Power’s and OTEC’s shared commitment to meeting the needs of eastern Oregon communities,” said Lisa Grow, president and CEO of Idaho Power. “Oregon represents a small share of our business ― projected to be less than 3% of total sales by 2030 ― and reducing our service area to one state will allow Idaho Power to focus funding, infrastructure investments, and our workforce on Idaho’s growing population and energy demand. We’re confident OTEC will provide a strong local focus and dedicated service for eastern Oregonians, while Idaho Power concentrates on supporting Idaho communities.”

Les Penning, CEO of OTEC, stated that the service area throughout the four counties fits naturally into the agency’s existing operations.

“OTEC and Idaho Power have a positive, long-standing relationship through transmission interconnection and delivery of power,” Penning said. “This relationship will continue and is equally important moving forward as we transition these communities to the cooperative. We look forward to serving our new member-owners while remaining focused on our mission of delivering safe, reliable and competitively priced power.”

Though OTEC will take ownership of the service area after the approval of the sale, Idaho Power will still own and operate the generation and transmission resources in Oregon which provide power to that state and to Idaho.

The agencies stated that they will work closely to ensure a smooth transition.

More information about the providers and the sale can be found at idahopower.com/Oregon or otec.coop/IdahoPower.