Oregon's Data Center Rate Class Raises Their Bills 29% and Cuts Everyone Else's

Oregon set out in 2025 to make data centers pay for the grid they need. A year later, regulators have the first numbers. In its inaugural biennial report to the Legislature on the POWER Act, the Oregon Public Utility Commission said Portland General Electric's compliance filing has cut average rates by 1.3% for residential customers, 2.1% for commercial customers and 1.4% for industrial customers. Data centers in PGE's territory face an average increase of 29%.

The commission describes the law, House Bill 3546, as a first-of-its-kind statute, and says Oregon is the first state to create a customer classification specifically for data centers. The POWER Act directs the commission to put large data centers, defined as facilities above 20 MW, into their own rate class with a separate tariff schedule. The core decision came on May 7, when the commission issued Order No. 26-154 in docket UM 2377 creating Schedule 96 for PGE.

The order followed an evidentiary hearing before the commission on January 21, 2026. The commission also adopted an interconnection queue under which a data center can only be energized once enough non-emitting capacity has been added to the system to serve it, through direct access, special contracts or other means. "Oregonians should not bear the costs of explosive data center growth and data centers should be focused on limiting their overall impact," commission Chair Letha Tawney said when the order was issued.

The commission approved PGE's updated rate schedules and rules in compliance with the act on July 10, in Order No. 26-239. With load of that size, the traditional method of spreading grid costs across all customers would have pushed a large share of new investment onto households. Many states have adopted large load tariffs with minimum bills, but Oregon's approach combines several tools in one class: high minimum demand charges, direct payment for distribution upgrades, long contracts, a clean capacity requirement before energization and a surcharge on the largest users that funds bill relief for households.