Wildfire Season and Utility Wildfire Mitigation Planning

Wildfire Season and Utility Wildfire Mitigation Planning

July 9, 2026 Energy Efficiency, Advocacy

As Oregonians grow accustomed to drier and hotter summer temperatures, this year’s snow drought has further heightened the risk of severe and more frequent wildfires. CEP is committed to ensuring that communities are prepared for both wildfires and the public safety power shutoffs that may accompany them. 

This year CEP has reviewed mitigation plans for 2026-2028 and submitted multiple rounds of comments to the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC). Our recommendations focused on three key priorities: 

• Utility plans should support adaptive management that strengthens both resilience and affordability.

• Utilities should rely on rate increases ONLY as a last resort when funding wildfire mitigation investments. 

• Utilities should meaningfully engage communities and invest in wildfire preparedness and resilience. 

Read our full recommendations to the PUC here. 

CEP also provided feedback on the Independent Evaluators' reports and the Public Utility Commission Staff's draft recommendations, reinforcing our priorities and advocating for stronger accountability before plans are approved. You can read our full comments on the IE report here.

CEP also advocated for stronger language in this year’s final reports to ensure that the utilities and PUC Staff continue to strengthen the rigor, transparency, and scrutiny applied to wildfire mitigation plans. This includes strengthening recommendations that ensure ratepayer funds are guaranteed only for wildfire mitigation investments that are evidence-based, risk reducing, reasonable, and exclusively associated with wildfire risk reduction initiative activities.

Read our full comments here.