Surprise Valley Electrification Corp.

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Surprise Valley Electrification Corporation to Buy PacifiCorp's Lakeview, OR Distribution Assets

Surprise Valley Electrification Corporation (Surprise Valley), a nonprofit rural electric cooperative, recently announced that it has signed a non-binding term sheet to acquire PacifiCorp’s electric distribution assets serving the Town of Lakeview and the surrounding area. Surprise Valley has served the neighboring region for 90 years.

Under the agreement, Surprise Valley plans to acquire distribution assets serving 2,228 residential, commercial, and irrigation customers in the Lakeview area. Those customers would then become additional member-owners of Surprise Valley.

“We know this area well and we work hard to provide reliable and affordable service to our members. We are looking forward to serving Lakeview the same way we have served this region for almost a century.” — Brad Kresge, General Manager

“As a cooperative, Surprise Valley is owned by the people it serves. We are proud to grow our membership and to bring the benefits of cooperative ownership to our neighbors.” — Dennis Flynn, Board President

The transaction is subject to approval by the Oregon Public Utility Commission, a process that can take 12 months. During the negotiation and regulatory approval period, PacifiCorp will continue to provide service to customers in the area.

About Surprise Valley Electrification Corporation

Surprise Valley Electrification Corporation is a nonprofit, member-owned rural electric cooperative headquartered in Alturas, California. Founded in 1936, Surprise Valley serves approximately 3,400 member-owners, representing approximately 7,000 meters across California, Oregon, and Nevada. The cooperative holds the lowest electric rates in California and is among the lowest in the nation. For more information, visit surprisevalleyelectric.org/.


Questions & Answers related to the press release above:

Question 1. What exactly is our cooperative considering?

What we’re evaluating is the potential to acquire the service territory, along with the equipment used to distribute energy to customers. Those customers would become cooperative members, just like our current members.


Question 2. Has the board approved this?

The board supports exploring this opportunity carefully. While no final decision has been made, this presents an exciting opportunity to serve our Lakeview neighbors.


Question 3. Are current members’ rates going up because of this?

No. That was a firm requirement before we would consider moving forward.


Question 4. What is the potential upside for the cooperative as a whole?

The transaction would add large commercial and industrial customers we don’t currently have. That kind of diversification makes our cooperative more stable and financially resilient over the long term.


Question 5. What would this mean for our cooperative’s operations?

Fortunately, we already serve the surrounding area, so there are very few expected operational impacts. We also already have people working in that area, so outage response times would likely improve immediately.


Question 6. What about the power supply problems in that area? Will you fix them?

The power supply constraints in that area are a regional infrastructure issue, and it wouldn't be resolved just by our cooperative taking over service. With that said, we explore all available options to provide quality, reliable service to our member-owners, and would do the same for Lakeview.