Oregon Revised Statutes

Or. Rev. Stat. § 757.480 (2026)

Approval needed prior to disposal, mortgage or encumbrance of certain operative utility property or consolidation with another public utility; exceptions

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section ORSoregonlegislature.gov JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

757.480 Approval needed prior to disposal, mortgage or encumbrance of certain operative utility property or consolidation with another public utility; exceptions. (1) A public utility doing business in Oregon shall not, without first obtaining the Public Utility Commission’s approval of such transaction:

(a) Except as provided in subsection (6) of this section, sell, lease, assign or otherwise dispose of the whole of the property of the public utility necessary or useful in the performance of the public utility’s duties to the public or any part thereof of a value of $1 million or more, or sell, lease, assign or otherwise dispose of any franchise, permit or right to maintain and operate the public utility or public utility property, or perform any service as a public utility;

(b) Mortgage or otherwise encumber the whole or any part of the property of the public utility necessary or useful in the performance of the public utility’s duties to the public, including any franchise, permit or right to maintain and operate the public utility or public utility property, or perform any service as a public utility; or

(c) By any means whatsoever, directly or indirectly, merge or consolidate any of the public utility’s lines, plant, system or other property whatsoever, or franchise or permit to maintain or operate any public utility property, or perform any service as a public utility, or any part thereof, with any other public utility.

(2) A public utility doing business in Oregon shall annually file with the commission a report that includes a summary of each transaction in excess of $25,000 but less than $1 million that the public utility made during the previous calendar year that involved the sale, lease, assignment or other disposition of the whole of the property of the public utility necessary or useful in the performance of the public utility’s duties to the public or any part thereof.

(3) Every sale, lease, assignment, mortgage, disposition, encumbrance, merger or consolidation subject to subsection (1) of this section made other than in accordance with the order of the commission authorizing the same is void.

(4) For purposes of complying with subsections (1)(a) and (2) of this section, a public utility shall include in the calculation of the value of the property to be sold, leased, assigned or otherwise disposed of only the portion of the value of the property that has been recognized as the basis of an operating expense or capital expenditure in an Oregon rate valuation or other hearing or proceeding.

(5) This section does not prohibit or invalidate the sale, lease or other disposition by any public utility of property that is not necessary or useful in the performance of the public utility’s duties to the public.

(6) A water utility doing business in Oregon shall not, without first obtaining the Public Utility Commission’s approval of a transaction, sell, lease, assign or otherwise dispose of the whole of the property of the water utility necessary or useful in the performance of the water utility’s duties to the public or any part thereof of a value in excess of $10,000, or sell, lease, assign or otherwise dispose of any franchise, permit or right to maintain and operate the water utility or water utility property, or perform any service as a water utility. [Formerly 757.155; 1999 c.530 §1; 2019 c.252 §1]

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases, 1992–2008 · leading case: Crooked River Ranch Water Co. v. Pub. Util. Comm'n, 198 P.3d 967 (Or. Ct. App. 2008).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Crooked River Ranch Water Co. v. Pub. Util. Comm'n, 198 P.3d 967 (Or. Ct. App. 2008). · cites it 5× “According to PUC staff, Crooked River became “subject to regulation” as soon as the petitions were received from 20 percent of the members; at *489 that point, Crooked River became “subject to” ORS 757.480, which requires a public utility to obtain PUC permission before…”

Pac. Nw. Bell Tel. Co. v. Katz, 853 P.2d 1346 (Or. Ct. App. 1993). “PUC based its finding of jurisdiction over ATDs and BCLs on ORS 757.480, which requires a public utility to obtain PUC approval before disposing of property that is “necessary or useful in the performance of [the utility’s] duties to the public.”

Util. Reform Proj. v. Oregon Pub. Util. Comm'n, 16 P.3d 516 (Or. Ct. App. 2000). · cites it 3× “ORS 757.480, for example, requires Commission approval before a *354 public utility disposes of, mortgages, or otherwise encumbers property valued in excess of $100,000.”

Pac. Nw. Bell Tel. Co. v. Eachus, 826 P.2d 105 (Or. Ct. App. 1992). · cites it 2× “495, but a transfer of property worth more than $10,000 that is subject to former ORS 757.480 (renumbered as ORS 759.375). It approved the agreement but reserved for a later proceeding the question of how the directory revenues would affect PNB’s rate structure.”

— Or. Rev. Stat. § 757.480(2) — 1 case

Pac. Nw. Bell Tel. Co. v. Eachus, 826 P.2d 105 (Or. Ct. App. 1992). “495, but a transfer of property worth more than $10,000 that is subject to former ORS 757.480 (renumbered as ORS 759.375). It approved the agreement but reserved for a later proceeding the question of how the directory revenues would affect PNB’s rate structure.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.