Law360, New York (May 11, 2016, 12:39 PM EDT) -- PacifiCorp is an investor-owned utility that operates in six Western states, including Washington, Oregon and California. A portion of its power supply needs in those states is met by purchases from so-called qualifying facilities (QFs), i.e., cogenerators and small power producers that qualify to sell power to utilities under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). PURPA required utilities to pay rates to QFs based on "avoided costs," which are the costs the utilities would incur in supplying the power themselves or acquiring it from another source but for the purchase from the QF. It left the responsibility for computing avoided costs with the states.[1]...