Today, Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative (OTEC) and PacifiCorp announced they have entered into a non-binding agreement to transition ownership of PacifiCorp’s Wallowa County, Oregon service area.
If the sale is approved, PacifiCorp’s 5,500 residential, irrigation, commercial, and industrial customers in Wallowa County will transfer to OTEC’s service.
“OTEC has been providing service adjacent to our neighbors in Wallowa County for almost 40 years, and we look forward to extending those services to Wallowa County and welcoming these communities into the cooperative,” said Les Penning, CEO of OTEC. “The geographic alignment of this transaction will allow OTEC to further bolster resources in the region supporting both our existing and future Oregon Trail Cooperative member-owners.”
PacifiCorp and OTEC will work together closely as they move first towards a definitive agreement, then through the approval process from state regulators. Finalization of the transaction is expected to take 12 to 15 months.
For more information about PacifiCorp, OTEC, and the proposed sale, please visit PacificPower.net/OregonNews or otec.coop/PacificPower.
About the cooperative
Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative (OTEC) is one of Oregon's largest distribution cooperatives. Headquartered in Baker City, Oregon, with district offices in La Grande, John Day, and Burns, OTEC currently serves approximately 32,000 meters and nearly 60,000 residents in Baker, Grant, Harney and Union counties with a network of overhead and underground lines approximately 3,000 miles long.