Oregon PUC / July 7 / 29% DC hike / Schedule 96 live

Plain-English framing. Oregon's data center action this spring had two pieces. Piece one is Schedule 96 — the rate-class framework that defines who pays what kind of charges (10-30 year contracts, 90% minimum demand, 1¢/kWh surcharge above 100 MW, 100% of distribution upgrades). That piece went live on schedule yesterday, June 10. Piece two is the actual dollar-amount rate increase Portland General Electric proposed for its specific data center customer class: 29% up. The residential class would simultaneously see a 1.3% cut. That piece was supposed to also get a decision yesterday. It did not. PUC Chair Letha Tawney moved the decision to July 7, 2026, with the rationale that staff needed time to verify roughly 200 pages of PGE tariff math 'to prevent errors and ensure customers are protected.' PGE pushed back publicly — spokesperson Drew Hanson called the delay an administrative slow-down on bills the company says would lower monthly costs for residential customers. The Oregon Citizens' Utility Board (the consumer advocate) sided with the PUC: 'get this right the first time.' The split is important. It means the regulatory framework is now operational (any new Oregon data center load above 20 MW is on Schedule 96 contract terms as of yesterday) but the price discrimination between data center and residential customers is still pending. Developers who needed the framework to model contract terms have what they need; developers who needed the dollar numbers to model returns still have to wait 27 days.

Primary source · OPB / Utility Dive / Oregon PUC ↗