Data Centers Are Stealing Your EV Savings! Oregon Fights Back

Data Centers Are Gobbling Up the Grid and Driving Up Electricity Rates for Oregonians

Have you noticed that your electricity bill is higher than it used to be? Even if you are using less, your bill may still be higher than it was a year ago. You might dismiss this as inflation since prices for nearly everything have been on the rise. However, historically, electricity prices have risen more slowly than inflation. There's another factor that's driving your bill higher. The new player straining the system is massive data centers that power AI and cryptocurrency.

Many of us like and use one or both of these technologies, but that doesn't mean that we want to pay for them every month on our electricity bill. Highly profitable corporations, such as Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, alongside venture capital-supported start-ups, are constructing data centers. These swollen-coffers entities have the resources to establish their own infrastructure, without placing the financial burden on other ratepayers.

Data centers are undermining the century-old utility model, resulting in skyrocketing residential rates. In Oregon, where renewable energy and EV adoption are booming, this issue is front and center. Let’s dive into how data centers have broken the traditional model, how this has resulted in essentially giving them corporate welfare at our expense, how this has increased your rates, and (most importantly) let's explore how a new Oregon bill aims to address these issues.

The Old Model

The traditional utility business model, born over 100 years ago, assumed electricity demand would grow proportionally across residential, commercial, and industrial users. Utilities spread infrastructure costs for building substations and transmission lines across all customers. Say a new factory is being built. It will need workers, so new homes will be built. The people who live in those homes will need stores, restaurants, and other amenities. The utility then installs new infrastructure to support all these homes and businesses, and the upgrade costs will be shared by all the utility's customers. This method worked when factories, homes, stores, and restaurants all scaled together. 

Enter data centers: these facilities guzzle power 24/7, often with the demand of an entire city. Data centers don't bring hundreds of jobs and homes, with supporting stores and restaurants that also share in the infrastructure growth. Data centers require a massive amount of infrastructure that solely benefits them. And they are exploiting this collective payment system to fund this infrastructure.

This mismatch turns into a subsidy for tech giants. Residential customers end up footing the bill for data center-specific expansions. For instance, Portland General Electric (PGE) spent $210 million on transmission upgrades in Washington County to serve data centers. Critics call it corporate welfare because data centers don't pay for the infrastructure and then only pay industrial rates for the electricity (around 8 cents per kWh), while households pay 19 to 20 cents per kWh, effectively further subsidizing the tech giants.

Oregon has 137 data centers and ranks 9th in the US (or 2nd per capita). The data centers here consume over 10% of our state’s electricity. Demand is expected to more than double by 2030. This will force utilities to buy more expensive power (from Western Energy Imbalance Market) and build out their generation and distribution capacity, exacerbating rate hikes on households unless something is done to restore balance.

The Fallout

Residential electricity rates in Oregon have surged about 45% since 2018 for customers of Oregon’s two major utilities. That’s from roughly 13 cents per kWh in 2018 to 20 cents per kWh today in 2025. Data centers are driving much of this increase. PGE’s industrial demand has spiked 95% since 2016, versus just 3.5% for residential. This added load, equivalent to 162,400 new households, has utilities scrambling, increasing reliance on fossil fuels and market buys, which inflate costs further. Oregon electricity rate increases are outpacing the national average. This means running your refrigerator, air conditioner, or charging your EV now costs more. 

To illustrate the trend, here’s a breakdown of average residential rate increases for PGE and Pacific Power customers:

Year	PGE Rate (cents/kWh)	Pacific Power Rate (cents/kWh)	Statewide Increase
2018	13.5	13.3	Baseline
2019	13.8	13.6	2%
2020	14.0	13.8	4%
2021	14.7	14.5	9%
2022	15.8	15.5	17%
2023	17.2	16.7	27%
2024	18.3	18.0	36%
2025	19.6	19.5	45%

These price hikes have real consequences: over 70,000 Oregon households faced disconnections in 2024 due to unpaid bills, according to the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB). While factors like wildfire mitigation and renewables transition play a role, the lion’s share is data center growth.

The Solution: POWER Act

Oregon House Bill 3546 is the Protecting Oregonians With Energy Responsibility (POWER) Act. POWER aims to fix this issue. It reclassifies data centers and crypto operations using 20 MW or more as large energy use facilities, separating them from general industrial users. It mandates data centers to 10-year power contracts with fees for over- or under-usage, and (most importantly) direct payment for infrastructure costs. No more shifting infrastructure costs to residential customers. The act was signed into law by Governor Tina Kotek in June 2025. The Public Utility Commission rulemaking for the act is currently underway. The act takes effect in October 2025 and requires biennial load reports starting September 2026.

The Impact

This act will help stabilize residential rates and prevent another 50% price spike by 2030. The price that data centers pay will be determined by the PUC and will likely be more than the 8 cents per kWh price they currently enjoy. Critics worry the act could slow tech jobs, but supporters argue it protects affordability.

Microgrids To The Rescue

Oregon House Bills 2065 and 2066 are collectively called the "Microgrid Empowerment Act." These bills were also signed into law by Governor Tina Kotek this year. They establish a comprehensive regulatory framework that permits the development and operation of microgrids by diverse entities, including communities, tribes, municipalities, and private developers. House Bill 2065 focuses on enabling community-owned microgrids, empowering local groups to generate and manage their own electricity, often with an emphasis on renewable sources like solar and wind. House Bill 2066 complements this by allowing private entities, including businesses and third-party developers, to build and operate microgrids, fostering innovation in decentralized energy systems. Together, these laws aim to enhance grid resilience, reduce reliance on centralized power during outages, and promote the integration of clean energy, aligning with Oregon’s climate goals.

Data centers could leverage private microgrids under House Bill 2066 to both integrate renewables and avoid significant grid upgrade costs. By establishing private microgrids, data centers could install on-site solar, wind turbines, and/or battery storage systems. Thereby, generating a substantial portion of their power directly on-site. This would reduce their dependence and infrastructure demands on the utility grid, allowing them to bypass the need for expensive infrastructure improvements such as new power lines or substations, which can cost millions and are mandated under the POWER Act’s 10-year contract requirements.

Moreover, private microgrids could enable data centers to negotiate power purchase agreements with renewable energy providers, ensuring a steady supply of green energy tailored to their demand profiles. This setup could lower their effective energy costs. This would avoid transmission fees and grid maintenance charges. Additionally, by meeting Oregon’s renewable portfolio standards through on-site generation, data centers could gain regulatory incentives or carbon credits, further offsetting costs. This strategic use of microgrids could shift the financial burden away from ratepayers, aligning with the POWER Act’s intent while allowing tech giants to maintain operational efficiency and sustainability, potentially setting a precedent for other states facing similar energy challenges.

Wrap Up

In conclusion, as we electrify our transportation and homes, we can’t let data centers derail the grid. Oregon’s POWER Act is a smart step toward equity, ensuring residential customers aren’t subsidizing big tech’s power binge. By holding these giants accountable, we’re paving the way for a resilient, renewable-powered future where clean driving stays affordable. 

The Microgrid Empowerment Act gives new tools to data centers to deal with their power requirements without dependency on the utilities.

If you’re in Oregon, keep an eye on your utility bills; these could mean real savings the next time you plug in.