Oregon’s POWER Act Delivers Lower Rates for Oregon Families and Businesses, Higher Costs for Data Centers
Salem, OR – Today, Governor Tina Kotek outlined the impact and outcomes of the Protecting Oregonians With Energy Responsibility (POWER) Act, landmark legislation signed by the Governor in 2025 to protect Oregonians from rising electricity costs due to data centers and other large energy use facilities. The report highlights the impacts of the POWER Act’s implementation on hundreds of thousands of residential and commercial ratepayers and warns of the projected growth of energy demand from data centers on the electrical grid capacity on which Oregon families and businesses depend.
"Oregon households and businesses shouldn’t be asked to foot the bill for data center corporations,” Governor Kotek said. “The POWER Act is working as intended, with data centers on track to pay their fair share of electricity costs. This report shows this new law is critical for holding data centers accountable. Additionally, it renews the urgency to consider legislation next year to require data centers to do more to produce their own renewable energy to take demand off the grid.”
According to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), which transmitted its biennial report to the Oregon Legislature yesterday, residential electricity rates in Portland General Electric’s (PGE) service territory have decreased by an average of 1.3 percent, while rates for data centers have increased by an average of 29 percent. This reflects rate decreases and less burden placed on approximately 858,000 residential customers and roughly 105,000 commercial and industrial ratepayers served by PGE. Pacific Power’s POWER Act implementation review is expected to conclude later this year. Idaho Power is also subject to the law but currently does not host any large load data centers.
The report goes on to say that data center energy use is projected to grow at a significantly higher rate than other large commercial customers. Data center load has grown at an average rate of approximately 36% per year since 2021 and is projected to grow at approximately 14% per year through 2030.
In addition to working to reduce utility rate increases, Governor Kotek is taking every action within her authority to ensure Oregon communities have a voice in how and where data center growth occurs. In early August, Governor Kotek terminated the state's contract for the sale of approximately 32 acres of public land at the Mill Creek Corporate Center in southeast Salem for a proposed data center project. Governor Kotek also announced her support of moratoriums to pause new data center construction until statewide safeguards can be established in law next year. And, back in January, Governor Kotek convened the Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee to develop policy recommendations that will help Oregon strategically manage economic development opportunities created by new data centers and ensure that these facilities require high labor standards and clean energy production and do not disproportionately impact residential utility rates or damage Oregon’s clean air and water.
The state’s full report on the impact of the POWER Act can be found here.
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