People in and around the city of Monroe in Benton County may soon have a new electric utility.
Blachly-Lane Electric Cooperative agreed to terms to buy PacifiCorp’s Monroe territory, covering 1,162 residential, commercial and irrigation customers in Monroe, Alpine, Bellfountain and along Highway 99W.
The move is a chance for Blachly-Lane to acquire more members, which can help lower costs.
“It’s a rare opportunity, frankly. We’re one of the smaller cooperatives in Oregon,” said General Manager Jeff Jones. “Scale matters to use quite a bit so we can spread our costs evenly amongst more members.”…