Here’s what part of the Water Avenue “plaza street” without overhead power lines looked like on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026.
Now we know how much Pacific Power customers within the city of Albany will pay as their share of the cost of putting power lines under ground on a section of Water Avenue.
Here’s what I learned Wednesday from Adam Kohler, Pacific Power’s business manager in the Albany area: “We now anticipate the monthly fee to be collected from the residents of the city to be $1.35 a month for 24 months.”
That would put the total surcharge at $32.40.
The charge is substantially less than half the original estimate of $4 a month. Two reasons:
First, Pacific’s cost of the undergrounding, just above $1.8 million, was less than the preliminary estimate. And second, the city council acting as the Albany urban renewal agency decided in November to pay $545,054 toward the undergrounding bill.
The city contribution came from CARA, the urban renewal district that sponsored the Albany Waterfront Project, including the conversion of the west end of Water Avenue into a “plaza street” suitable for events.
The plaza street design required that overhead power lines be moved under ground, but the city had not budgeted for that expense.
As spelled out by an Oregon Public Utility Commission regulation for when a government forces the undergrounding of power lines, Pacific Power is entitled to bill all its customers within the city for the cost of the changeover.
Kohler said the company has made the required filing with the PUC, which will determine when the surcharge will start. (hh)
This story has been edited to correct the time element in the second paragraph.
The sky didn’t fall. Dang! I’m sure it will tick off some folks that it has come in at this level…
You’re a troll
It PISSES people off that it comes in at ANY LEVEL.
I agree. The people have already paid 22 million for CARA’s folly. We shouldn’t have to pay a penny for the Council (which includes Ray K. every 2 years or so for who knows how long) “forgetting” to budget for placing wiring underground.
You’re blithely dismissing the fact that we (voters) have total-control of council makeup via elections. Don’t approve how your two councilors vote? Run for office or support someone who more aligns with your viewpoint…
I don’t “blithely” say anything, Ray. And, I do not want to run for office and, of course, I vote for whoever seems to align with my views. You are such a smart…..(forget it).
Not a problem FRR… We all process things differently. If you believe “how” you affect change in your Ward works for you, keep doing it.
There will always be some people who are pissed off no matter what is done.
Well Ray, this is why you were voted out as a city Council member!
No, he wasn’t voted out. He did not seek re- election.
Looks fantastic. What an improvement to that area.
I live in a community here in AZ that is 100% underground power. I would never want overhead wires again. Over time, all of Albany’s power and communications cabling should be undergrounded. It is visually much more appealing and also eliminates weather related issues with operation (wind and ice storms).
Why wasn’t the cost of putting the power lines underground part of the original CARA project scope and budget?
FYI all residents in the city are not PPL customers, Some of the south end are Consumers Power customers.
Now this is an interesting point. One that should not be overlooked.
So… Ward 3 or Ward 2 should be on notice?
I LOVE HOW ALBANY TOSS’S MONEY AROUND LIKE IT’S NOTHING….YOU CAN
FORGET THE ALBANY GAS TAX NOW…RAY K. IS RIGHT ABOUT ONE THING..
MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT NEXT TIME..OH MY..
I think the City is also allowed to take a % of the power charges we pay as a privilege tax and I think they raised that to the max allowed by law a few years back. Please correct me if I wrong. Ray’s snooty comment says it all from those who “serve” us.
This article states “…but the city had not budgeted for that expense.”
That equates to sheer incompetence.
I. N. C. O. M. P. E. T. E. N. C. E.
The bill should go to city hall.
Majority of comments above (so far) strongly reinforce my initial comment…
Why is CARA putting any money into a City project? The point of CARA was to “help” private businesses improve their site. Not improve City own infrastructure.
This is another TAX we are paying and the voters in Albany did not have a voice on a new tax… why? Because they call it a fee. Just like our water bills have a meter reader fee…. and it went up 60% the first of the year.
Talking with a local Doctor, water bill for his business went up over $100 for this new fee. When he asked a city person why, the response was the city needs the money. So they call it a service charge, bypassing the requirement for a vote of the people to approve a tax. Time for Tom Cordier to sponsor another bill. But I digress.
No, the goal of CARA was to improve central Albany with a combination of public projects and private-public partnerships. The district listed 51 specific projects or activities, including bringing city streets up to current standards. Improving the riverfront with various amenities was on the list, and so was undergrounding overhead utilities. Much of the list was forgotten or set aside over the years.
Well, what’s left of CARA should redo the sign that is falling apart at an Antique Store on 2nd Avenue, downtown. Looks awful.
Since putting utilities underground on the waterfront was on the CARA list (according to you, Hasso), how could the Council members (who run CARA also) forget to budget for it?
Since you seem to have taken on the role of championing CARA’s activities, explain how they could forget to budget for an item on their list.
I find it interesting that they built the plaza street but are thinking of selling the parking lots that would support events that might take place there.
Dala-
Currently, where do folks park for Farmer’s Market, River Rhythms, etc? For the latter, the parking lots you mention are but a miniscule drop in the bucket, yet, the thousands who do show up to enjoy the events still find parking…
Ray, if you are downtown (say, making a run to the Post Office) on a Monteith concert night, there are scads of people (young people with kids in tow) walking to the park. They are parked a long ways from the park. Also, I remember reading that people could park at the Linn County Fairgrounds the other side of I-5 and be taken to Monteith concerts in horse-drawn carriage or something that the city owns. I don’t know how that worked out. Haven’t heard, and I don’t attend the concerts.
You are correct about the parking, walking, and the City “trolley” doing shuttle runs during those events. I don’t see that changing…
Thanks, Ray, for making sense with your comments and not throwing barbs at people, but why did you say above that thousands of people who attend Monteith concerts find parking? They aren’t finding parking if they park at the Linn County Fairgrounds miles away and take a trolley to the concert. That idea seems fraught with potential problems to me….because if people are notified, for example, of an emergency while at the concert those people cannot readily go to their car and leave the area. Their car is at the Fairgrounds many miles away.
Thanks for the comment, Dala. “Money” is the answer to why the Council would sell the parking lots on their “Pink Plaza Street” in a New York minute! I also think some of the Council knows darned well they aren’t going to have a big flurry of events wanting to use Plaza Street. I imagine Albany is the only town in the U.S. who spent millions of dollars to put pink bricks on a street for their seasonal Farmer’s Market.
Also, those parking lots are now all exclusive parking rented out space-by-space by the City. The whole Water Street redo is just a huge boondoggle.