The Oregon utility filed for regulatory approval on new rates tied to the state's POWER Act, which requires large energy users to cover their share of infrastructure costs
SOPA Images / Getty Images
Portland General Electric $GE filed for regulatory approval on Wednesday for a 29% rate increase for large-load data center customers while simultaneously proposing rate cuts for residential and business customers, implementing Oregon's new POWER Act.
If the Oregon Public Utility Commission signs off, June 10 is the target date for the new rates to go into effect. Under the proposal, homeowners would pay 1.3% less, small businesses 3.7% less, commercial accounts 2.2% less, and industrial customers 1.5% less, according to the company.
Oregon legislators passed the POWER Act last year, establishing a separate billing category for data centers and other major power consumers, and empowering state regulators to hold those customers financially responsible for the generation and transmission infrastructure their expansion requires. The threshold for inclusion under the law is a project drawing more than 20 megawatts, the company noted.
PGE received Oregon Public Utility Commission approval on May 7 to become the first utility in Oregon to implement the POWER Act. In that proceeding, regulators also authorized exit fees, minimum charges, and special contracts to support clean energy development, the company said.
Between early 2020 and mid-2025, PGE's data center electricity consumption climbed from 50 average megawatts to over 300 — a level of demand comparable to roughly 240,000 households, OregonLive reported. PGE's regulatory filings listed five companies operating 16 facilities as falling within the new rate class, though none were identified by name.
Advocates at the Oregon Citizens' Utility Board, which monitors utility practices on behalf of consumers, said the new filing makes clear that ordinary ratepayers had long been picking up costs that should have fallen on data centers. Bob Jenks, executive director of the Oregon Citizens' Utility Board, said the outcome validates the group's longstanding position. "The significant increase in data center rates confirms our belief that data centers were not paying for the costs incurred to serve them," he said. "With the new rate structure, we should see a slowdown in the significant increases to home PGE bills."
Under the old pricing structure, homeowners were being charged more than double the per-kilowatt-hour rate applied to data centers, OPB reported, citing the Citizens' Utility Board.
Anger over electricity costs linked to data center expansion has been reshaping utility regulation and local politics across the country, with community opposition stalling or halting dozens of projects and states weighing legislation to shift grid-connection costs from households to large industrial users.
"As energy demand from large-energy users grows, this approach helps ensure the costs of new infrastructure are paid by the customers driving that growth," PGE Chief Customer Officer John McFarland said in a statement.
Join 500,000+ readers who start their day with Quartz.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
