Oregon POWER Act

The Oregon POWER Act (Prioritising Operational and Wholesale Energy Responsibility), passed in 2025, is the first US state law to mandate that electric utilities create a dedicated large-load rate class for sites drawing 20 megawatts or more (a threshold that captures data centres and other industrial AI infrastructure) and to charge those sites the full cost of serving them, rather than spreading grid-upgrade costs across the general residential customer base. The practical effect was demonstrated on 10 June 2026, when Portland General Electric filed a tariff setting a 29% rate increase for qualifying sites while simultaneously cutting household rates by 1.3%.

Prior to the POWER Act, the conventional US utility model socialised infrastructure costs across all customers: a new 100 MW data-centre campus triggering a substation upgrade would spread that upgrade cost over all ratepayers, effectively subsidising the operator. Oregon's law breaks that model explicitly, requiring cost causation: the party that causes the cost bears it. The 20 MW threshold was set to capture hyperscale and colocation campuses while excluding smaller commercial and industrial loads.

At least a dozen US states have filed or are considering similar cost-attribution bills in 2026. The POWER Act's implementation is the first national test of whether this approach survives regulatory scrutiny and industry legal challenge. Its outcome will shape the legislative design of equivalent bills in Texas, Virginia, Georgia, and elsewhere.