The Oregon Senate has advanced the POWER Act—Protecting Oregonians With Energy Responsibility. The bill establishes a separate pricing system for electricity users with demands over 20 megawatts to ensure they pay for the energy infrastructure they use. This change is intended to reduce the costs passed on to households and small businesses, according to the Senate Majority Office.
Senator Janeen Sollman (D – Hillsboro, Forest Grove & Rock Creek) said, "Data centers play an important role in our growing technology needs in the United States, and they need to pay their fair share for infrastructure required to meet their energy needs, rather than passing the costs on to residential ratepayers." Electric rates have increased by nearly 50 percent since 2021. Rep. Pam Marsh (D – Southern Jackson County) stated, "The cost to serve certain large energy users is spilling on to other ratepayers." Industrial users pay about 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, while households pay more than three times that rate. The legislation aims to address this pricing difference, as reported by the Senate Majority Office.
The Oregon Senate passed House Bill 3546 by an 18 to 12 vote, aiming to hold large corporate energy users accountable for the higher costs they impose on the electric grid. Senator Deb Patterson (D – Salem), a cosponsor, said, "The bill helps protect everyday users, like families and small businesses, from paying the costs that big businesses are running up," adding, "Household budgets are stretched far enough as they are. They shouldn’t be covering corporate costs, too." The bill now returns to the Oregon House for final approval and could significantly impact energy cost distribution in Oregon and serve as a model for other states, as mentioned by the Senate Majority Office.
