Agreement Reached for Cascade’s 2026 Rate Increase

Posted on August 6, 2026 by Charlotte Shuff
Tags, General Interest, Energy

After months of analysis, questions, and negotiations, all parties have come to an agreement with Cascade on the gas utility’s request to raise customers’ bills. Starting in October, Cascade households are set to see a 12.3% rate increase, down from the initial ask of 17.4%. The agreement is expected to be approved by state regulators in October.

An average household can expect to pay about $133 on a peak winter bill next January (a $14 increase). While this is a big change for customers, Cascade still has the lowest gas billing rates in Oregon.

Big Wins for Customers: In addition to significantly reducing the total increase, CUB helped secure big wins for customers. This includes rejecting large profit margin increases, removing expensive renewable natural gas costs, and phasing out a customer-funded subsidy to add new buildings to the gas system.

Large Rate Hikes Are On Their Way Out

One big reason Cascade’s increase is so high is that the utility has been quietly accumulating costs since it last raised rates in 2020. While rates have gone up some in recent years because of the rising cost of methane (natural gas’s main component), the costs of big projects and investments have been piling up. We saw a similar issue with Idaho Power in 2025, with the utility waiting ten years before requesting a 27% increase.

But these large, surprise increases could soon be a thing of the past. With the new FAIR Energy Act rolling out next year, utilities will now be required to create five-year spending plans, meet community-supportive metrics, and stick to a budget. This new customer-centered process will help to prevent big increases and help Oregonians know what to expect on their gas and electric bills.

Wins for Cascade Customers

Overall, this agreement includes some big wins for customers. Advocates were able to cut the increase by nearly 30%, from $16.4 million to $12 million.

Cuts to the initial request include:

Rejecting big profit margin increases
Removing expensive renewable natural gas costs
Phasing out a customer-funded subsidy to add new buildings to the gas system

New Program: Customers will also now have access to a pilot program to fund heat pumps in homes, without having to stay on the gas system.

Reducing Profit Margins

The agreement has rejected Cascade’s request to increase profit margins by millions of dollars each year at the cost of customers. Now, the utility is only allowed a very modest increase in allowable profits to 9.5% (was 9.4%). The new limit is in line with other gas utilities in the state.

As a regulated utility, Cascade’s profit margin is set by the Oregon Public Utility Commission. This is not a guarantee for profit, but rather a way to ensure customers are not being overcharged to benefit shareholders.

Cutting Expensive Renewable Gas Costs

This year, CUB pushed back to ensure household gas customers are not being overcharged for expensive renewable natural gas projects. And we were successful in cutting new charges for renewable natural gas! This win was largely due to the hard work of advocates at the Green Energy Institute, which CUB supported.

And this win against expensive gas alternatives will last for years. The agreement rejected Cascade’s request to allow it to invest in renewable natural gas projects and add costs to customer bills with very little oversight. Cascade was taking a page from NW Natural’s request just a few years ago, where CUB was also able to secure strong customer protections.

We can expect to see Cascade coming back next year with new asks to charge customers for renewable gas. But the agreement made it clear that there are limits on what the gas utility can ask for, thanks to advocate pushback.

Phasing Out the Growth Subsidy

Major Victory: Cascade is set to be the final gas utility to phase out the customer-funded growth subsidy for household customers in Oregon.

The agreement rejected Cascade’s request to expand its customer-funded subsidy to grow the gas system. Existing customers pay for expanding Cascade’s business through a subsidy called a “line extension allowance.” This subsidy benefits building developers, encouraging new homes to be built with gas.

Now, Cascade must phase out its growth subsidy for households by 2028. The cost it can charge existing households to add a new home will drop to $1,750 this October, down to $678 in October 2027, and finally $0 in October 2028.

The agreement also phases out this subsidy for small commercial and small industrial customers, too. Now, only large industrial and large volume customers will have access to the subsidy, which will now be tracked to these customers alone with new limits for overruns. Households and small businesses have strong protections against these costs to expand the gas system land on their bills.

Cascade was the last remaining Oregon gas utility charging customers an expansion subsidy. Over the past few years, regulators at the Oregon Public Utility Commission have ended similar policies for NW Natural and Avista. Regulators agreed with CUB that these policies are not in the best interest of customers. These subsidies also undermine climate policies in Oregon communities, such as Bend and Ashland, that discourage new homes from being connected to the gas system.

New Heat Pump Pilot

Cascade customers will soon have access to a new program to help offset the cost of heat pumps in their homes. The new pilot program will provide up to $1,500 per customer to get this high-efficiency heating and cooling.

This new pilot comes on the heels of a similar program CUB helped win for Avista customers, the gas utility serving parts of Southern and Eastern Oregon. Soon, Avista will pilot a program to offer incentives to switch homes to all-electric appliances and leave the gas system, instead of paying for expensive pipe replacements. Avista will also ensure that low-income customers are included in this pilot, which may help many receive necessary home upgrades and benefits.

Both of these pilot programs will help save household money, provide high-efficiency cooling, and help the gas utilities meet requirements to reduce emissions. A win all around!

Cascade Needs to Be Realistic on the Climate Protection Program

Under Oregon’s Climate Protection Program, gas utilities are now required to reduce emissions by 90% by 2050. While there are many ways for utilities to achieve this mandate, renewable natural gas is a favorite option because of its profitability. Cascade had multiple big investments it wants to charge customers for, as well as a proposal to make these charges automatic going forward.

Cascade also attempted to argue that expanding its growth subsidy at the expense of customers was beneficial to meeting Climate Protection Program rules. But adding more customers adds more emissions, which is the opposite of what Cascade needs to do under state requirements.

CUB, other advocates, and analysts at the Oregon Public Utility Commission were able to successfully call out Cascade’s unrealistic and expensive arguments. But we can expect to see more of these confusing and unrealistic plans in the name of the Climate Protection Program from gas utilities going forward. After all, these are the same utilities that have sued the state twice in an attempt to end the emissions reduction program!

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