Before Oregon’s POWER Act kicked in, data centers on Portland General Electric’s grid paid roughly 8 cents per kWh. Residential customers paid more than 20 cents.
Oregon household bills climbed nearly 50% since 2021. By October 2024, some 53,000 households had been disconnected — the highest count since the state started tracking. That’s the equivalent of an entire mid-sized city going dark while server farms hummed along at bargain rates. The dynamic resembles a roommate who cranks the AC to arctic levels, then insists on splitting the electric bill evenly.
On May 7, Oregon’s Public Utility Commission approved PGE’s Schedule 96 tariff framework, the first major enforcement action under the 2025 POWER Act (HB 3546). New rates take effect June 10.
What Schedule 96 Actually Requires
The tariff framework locks data centers into long-term commitments and strips out the cost subsidies that households were quietly absorbing.
- Applies to any new or expanding load above 20 MW — primarily AI data centers and crypto mining operations
- Data centers fund 100% of distribution network upgrades their projects require
- Minimum demand charges set at 90% of contracted capacity — pay whether the power gets used or not
- Contract terms run 10 years minimum, scaling up to 30 years for projects at or above 220 MW
- A 1 cent/kWh surcharge on projects exceeding 100 MW, with revenue directed toward residential rate relief and low-income energy programs
PUC Chair Letha Tawney told OPB the framework ensures “costs created by data centers in PGE’s territory are more accurately reflected in their rates,” protecting customers from steeper future increases.
A National Template – If It Holds
Oregon’s enforceable law stands in sharp contrast to non-binding federal promises about making Big Tech “pay their own way.”
Governor Tina Kotek called the move “a win for Oregonians,” emphasizing “fairness and accountability when large energy users, like data centers, take up more load on Oregon’s electrical grid.” Residential customers stand to see roughly a 1.6% bill decrease initially, with larger savings projected as more data center costs stay in their own rate class.
Industry watchers note the tension: higher operating costs could push some operators toward states still socializing grid expenses across all ratepayers. That risk is real. But the POWER Act is statutory and enforceable — not a handshake agreement that evaporates with the next news cycle.
PGE must file revised tariffs by June 3. If Oregon’s model delivers — data centers keep building while household bills stabilize — every state staring down the GPU arms race has a working blueprint sitting on the shelf.
