CUB Energy Policy Conference

In 2025, the Oregon Legislature passed the POWER Act to help utilities rein in data centers’ added costs to Oregonians’ energy bills. Last fall, Portland General Electric began the work to roll out this new law in practice. In January, Pacific... Read More »

Editor’s Note: This blog is adapted from CUB’s presentation to the Interim House Committee on Housing and Homelessness on June 16, 2026. To see the full video of this presentation, visit the Oregon Legislature website.

Energy inefficient homes can create a host of... Read More »

Over the last year, Oregon has taken big steps toward protecting regular people from the impact of data centers’ energy use and costs. But we still have a long way to go. This year, we need our policymakers to continue to... Read More »

Data centers—and their big energy usage—are a growing issue in Oregon. Over the past decade, our state has become one of the top destinations in the world for big tech companies to build out data centers. But why is Oregon such a... Read More »

In a landmark decision this week, the Oregon Public Utility Commission directed Portland General Electric (PGE) to add guardrails to protect Oregonians’ energy bills from data centers and a new customer category to charge data centers for their energy usage.

Oregonians won... Read More »

In early April, I joined a tour of North Cully Solar Park, organized by CUB and Verde, a Cully neighborhood community and environmental organization. I went because I live nearby, and as a social scientist who thinks a lot about... Read More »