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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of report (date of earliest event reported):
July 31, 1998
PACIFICORP
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
State of Oregon 1-5152 93-0246090
(State of Incorporation) (Commission (I.R.S. Employer
File No.) Identification No.)
700 N.E. Multnomah, Suite 1600, Portland, Oregon 97232-4116
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code:
(503) 813-7200
No Change
(Former Name or Former Address, if changed since last report)
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Item 5. OTHER EVENTS
Information contained in the news release of PacifiCorp issued
on July 31, 1998 is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 7. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, PRO FORMA FINANCIAL INFORMATION AND EXHIBITS
(c) Exhibit.
99. PacifiCorp news release issued July 31, 1998.
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
PACIFICORP
(Registrant)
By: RICHARD T. O'BRIEN
__________________________________
Richard T. O'Brien
Executive Vice President and
Chief Operating Officer
Date: July 31, 1998
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INDEX TO EXHIBITS
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EXHIBIT DESCRIPTION PAGE
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99 PacifiCorp news release issued July 31, 1998.
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EXHIBIT 99
_____________________________________________________________________________
PACIFICORP NEWS RELEASE
_____________________________________________________________________________
Scott Hibbs, for investor inquiries, (503) 813-7222
Dave Eskelsen, for media inquiries, (801) 220-2447
July 31, 1998
ADJUSTMENTS PROPOSED IN PACIFICORP'S UTAH RATE CASE;
COMPANY WILL NOT APPEAL ALLOCATION ORDER
Portland, OR - PacifiCorp (NYSE: PPW) announced today that the Utah
Division of Public Utilities (DPU) has proposed adjustments as part of the
company's general rate case that, if ultimately accepted by the Utah Public
Service Commission (PSC), could result in a $57.4 million reduction in
customer prices.
The adjustments proposed by the DPU include reduction of the company's
authorized rate of return on equity to 10 percent, removal of certain cost
items from the company's filed financial results for 1997 and other financial
adjustments. Other intervening parties have proposed similar types of
adjustments that could result in an even larger reduction of customer prices.
PacifiCorp's filed testimony requests no change in customer prices and
proposes a new authorized rate of return on equity of 11.25 percent. The
company submitted its financial results for 1997, the test year for the rate
case, as part of its filed testimony.
Commenting on the rate case, Richard O'Brien, PacifiCorp's Executive
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer said, "The proposals included in
our filed testimony are reasonable and fair. They continue our long-standing
commitment to low prices and high quality service for our Utah customers."
Prices for Utah customers have declined 23 percent in the past decade.
Hearings for the case are scheduled for October, with a final order
expected from the PSC by the end of the year. All of the proposed adjustments
will be litigated by the Company and other parties before the PSC during the
hearings.
Any required adjustments to customer prices would be retroactive to
February 1997, which is the date that the DPU and the Committee of Consumer
Services in Utah filed a joint petition with the PSC requesting a general rate
case.
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ALLOCATION ORDER
________________
As previously reported, PacifiCorp received an order from the PSC
changing the method for allocating costs among the seven states with retail
customers served by PacifiCorp.
The existing allocation method was established eight years ago after the
1989 merger between PacifiCorp and Utah Power by a task force of state and
federal regulators from each of the company's jurisdictions and company
officials.
In the order, the PSC directs that Utah's electric prices be based on a
method that allocates all costs evenly over the company's seven state
jurisdictions without regard to whether the costs were incurred before or
after the 1989 merger. The existing method allocated pre-merger costs to the
company of origin and post-merger costs on a system-wide basis.
The PSC ordered that the method change be phased in over five years
through a straight-line method.
The PSC order could reduce Utah customer prices by approximately $55
million per year once the order is fully phased in on January 1, 2001. $21
million of this reduction is included in the $57.4 million price reduction
proposed by the DPU.
The Company will not appeal this order.
PacifiCorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the United
States, is a multinational energy company with 1.4 million retail electric
customers in the western United States and 550,000 customers in the Australian
states of Victoria and New South Wales.
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