Portland General Electric
Investor-owned Oregon electric utility serving about 960,000 customers across 51 cities.
Since 8 July 2026 Portland General Electric has charged customers above 20 MW, data centres among them, 29% more and households 1.3% less, the first live US tariff written under a cost-allocation law, Oregon's POWER Act.
Last refreshed: 18 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
If Oregon's PUC approves PGE's tariff on 7 July, which state copies it first?
Timeline for Portland General Electric
Mentioned in: Kotek seeks pause on data-centre permits
Data Centres: Boom and BacklashOregon clears a 29% big-load surcharge
Data Centres: Boom and BacklashOregon PUC delays its data-centre tariff
Data Centres: Boom and BacklashFiled a 29% large-load rate increase and 1.3% residential rate cut under the Oregon POWER Act
Data Centres: Boom and Backlash: Oregon bills data centres, not homesBackground
Portland General Electric (PGE) served about 960,000 retail customers at the end of 2025, in a service area of some 4,000 square miles that lies wholly in Oregon and takes in 51 incorporated cities. It says it powers nearly half the state's population. Oregon's Public Utility Commission regulates its rates.
PGE is growing beyond Oregon. On 15 February 2026 it agreed to buy PacifiCorp's Washington transmission and distribution business, which serves about 140,000 customers, together with three generating plants, for $1.9bn in cash. The deal needs approval from regulators in Washington and Oregon.
Data centres now shape both its rates and its growth. PGE's large-load rate class, which the regulator held for four weeks in June 2026 to review its filings, now moves costs away from households. Oregon is adding limits that are not about price: Governor Tina Kotek's letter of 9 October asks Oregon's environmental regulator to stop issuing data-centre air and water permits before 1 July 2027, which would slow the new load that PGE's large-customer tariff was written for.
PGE now charges big loads more
PGE filed its large-load rate class on 4 June 2026, the first utility to turn the POWER Act into an actual tariff: a 29% rise for sites above 20 MW and a 1.3% cut for homes and small businesses. The filing ran to about 200 pages of tariff documents, and the regulator pushed its ruling from 10 June to 7 July to work through them.
Approval came on 7 July, effective the next day. That made PGE the first US utility to collect under a full-cost large-load tariff, while federal regulators and grid operators elsewhere were still arguing over who pays for data-centre load. Other states weighing similar cost-shift rules now have a working PGE rate class to study through 2027.
What is Portland General Electric's new data centre rate?
Why did Portland General Electric raise electricity rates for data centres?
Which US states are copying Oregon's data centre electricity billing law?
How large is Portland General Electric as a utility?
When does the Portland General Electric data centre tariff take effect?
Is Portland General Electric buying PacifiCorp's Washington business?
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 18 October 2026. Editorial standards.