Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Oregon Public Utility Commission is delaying a $33 million refund to Portland General Electric customers.

The refund is to settle a dispute over costs of the now-closed Trojan nuclear plant.  But customer advocates are appealing the refund, saying it's not large enough.

The commission says the hold will last at least 60 days, but PUC spokesman Bob Valdez says the appeals process could last years.

Bob Valdez: "PGE was prepared to start purchasing newspaper ads and establishing a system in which customers could start applying for those refunds but we didn't think it made sense to be spending money now, which could be wasted, and then we'd have to start all up again."

The Utility Reform Project and the Class Action Plaintiffs appealed the amount of the refund, expected to be about $20 per customer.

Customers who bought electricity from PGE from October 2000 to September 2001 are eligible for the refund.