In this blog series, we go utility by utility to explain the language included in your monthly gas and electric bill. Find the blog that covers your utility below!

Utility Guides:

• Portland General Electric
• Pacific Power
• Idaho Power
• NW Natural Gas
• Cascade Natural Gas
• Avista Gas

Please note that CUB primarily works with for-profit utilities, so this list is limited to those utilities. If you have a question about a utility not on this list, you can still contact us at !

Thankfully, Oregonians are protected from disconnection for past-due bills during certain extreme heat events. These protections are designed to keep Oregonians connected to life-saving cooling devices during heatwaves and other extreme weather events.

Extreme Summer Weather: Disconnection Limits & Added Protections

Losing access to heating, cooling, and other essential services during extreme weather can be life-threatening. Now, customers of Oregon’s for-profit utilities have stronger permanent protections.

Protections: Disconnections for non-payment are limited during extreme heat and very poor air quality events.

Learn More: CUB Blog - Extreme Summer Weather Disconnection Protections

You Need to Call Your Utility to Regain Service in Extreme Weather

Extreme weather protections are available for all customers. If you have been disconnected because of past-due bills ahead of an extreme weather event, you must call your utility company to get gas or power restored during the protected times. Utilities will not reconnect you automatically. Income-qualified customers and medical certificate customers are not required to pay up-front costs to reconnect in these instances.

Hot Weather Protections

Year-Round Heat Protections
Hot-weather protections apply when an extreme heat warning, extreme heat watch, or heat advisory is issued, regardless of the time of year. These protections only apply to electric utilities (PGE, Pacific Power, and Idaho Power).

All Electric Residential Customers:

• No disconnections 24 hours before a hot weather event, during the event, and 48 hours after.

Electric Bill Discount Program Participants & Medical Certificate Holders:

• No disconnections 24 hours before a winter weather event, during the event, and 48 hours after.
• No upfront costs for reconnection for anyone who has been disconnected up to seven days before the event. Past due balances and applicable reconnection fees will be applied later.

We need to keep each other safe and informed during extreme summer weather. Share these protections with your community to stay safe!

Stay Up to Date on Oregon Utility Issues

CUB will continue to advocate for people in Oregon on major utility issues. Sign up for the CUB email list for the latest updates, action alerts, and news on policies that affect the utilities your home relies on.

Donate to CUB

To keep up with CUB, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and LinkedIn!

Register today for the 2026 CUB Energy Policy Conference and save! Early Bird registration closes at 5:00 pm on September 18.

Register Today

2026 Conference Theme: Harnessing Local Energy

Finding Local Solutions to (Inter)National Energy Challenges
In just the last few years, Oregon’s energy landscape has seen many big, new challenges. We’ve seen hyperscaled energy demand from data centers, cuts to federal support for customers and utilities, large rate increases, and record household disconnections. With all of these hurdles, attention is increasingly turning to what we can do close to home to address both our energy needs and the human impacts of our industry.

In a world with increasingly globalized energy, we need to start to think more locally for solutions.

Panel 2B—What the Tech?!: Emerging Solutions for Energy Efficiency, Big and Small

Oregonians have new technologies available to reduce energy use and emissions that enable them to be good grid citizens. Promising tech such as balcony solar, residential battery storage systems, and window heat pumps may be excellent tools, but understanding how to effectively use them can be daunting. In homes and at scale, new tech in demand response and energy efficiency can have big impacts. We invite experts on this panel to discuss the larger policy implications and the practical use of new tech.

How can we sort through what is promising and what is over-promising in new technology? What are the tools that industry leaders are excited about that are currently available? What do we need to adapt in our energy policy to ensure these tools are accessible and affordable for Oregon? How do we go from pilot programs to widespread rollouts for new tech?

Moderator: Ryan Tran, Economist, Oregon CUB

About the Conference

The CUB Energy Policy Conference is designed as a day of discussion, networking, and sharing diverse perspectives. This conference is ideal for community groups, regulators, advocates, utility representatives, attorneys, or those interested in our region’s energy industry.

16th Annual CUB Energy Policy Conference

Friday, October 2, 2026
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sentinel Hotel
614 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97205

Conference Website

Stay Up to Date on Oregon Utility Issues

CUB will continue to advocate for people in Oregon on major utility issues. Sign up for the CUB email list for the latest updates, action alerts, and news on policies that affect the utilities your home relies on.

Donate to CUB

To keep up with CUB, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and LinkedIn!

These plans are meant to show how electric utilities intend to address wildfire risk in their service areas. These plans must identify high-risk areas and show how utilities’ policies and investment plans will reduce wildfire risk. Utilities are required to collaborate with local communities in the planning process.

Wildfire Mitigation Plans (WMPs)

In 2021, Oregon passed Senate Bill 762, a law requiring utilities to create comprehensive plans to lower wildfire risk in Oregon. This law applies to the state’s three for-profit electric utilities: Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, and Idaho Power. It tasks regulators at the Public Utility Commission with ensuring that utilities create holistic, cost-effective plans.

Why are Wildfire Mitigation Plans Important?

As Oregon’s wildfire seasons continue to worsen, we need these plans to keep our communities safe. In 2020, the Labor Day fires swept through Oregon, leaving over a million acres burned west of the Cascades. These fires impacted thousands of households, destroyed homes, and upended lives. In court, Pacific Power was deemed responsible for the four wildfires due to gross negligence. Utilities’ risk of causing wildfires is why these plans are necessary.

These plans show the strategies utilities will use to prevent wildfires in our state. This should include informing customers of planned and potential outages, called Public Safety Power Shutoffs. The goal of these plans is to minimize the risk of utility-caused wildfires. And most importantly—protecting Oregonians from life-threatening wildfires.

Managing Utility-Caused Wildfire Risk

Utilities’ plans are required to identify wildfire risks where they deliver electricity. Utilities also have to show risks around where they are moving electricity across distances (e.g., power lines). Through their analyses, utilities must include a description of what they are doing to reduce this risk.

Wildfire mitigation strategies include:

• Vegetation management (tree trimming, removal, etc.)
• System hardening (insulating wires, sensors for downed lines, etc.)
• Investment decisions (new line locations, power plant locations, etc.)
• Operational decisions (when to shut off power based on weather, etc.)

In addition to analysis and system plans, utilities must also plan for community engagement strategies. This includes their plans to work with local fire departments, local governments, and other public safety partners.

This year, regulators directed utilities to expand community-focused wildfire safety efforts. This change came at the recommendation of CUB and other energy advocates. This includes providing more home hardening and defensible space strategies. Utilities should also now provide communities with preparedness materials, fire location, and awareness tools at local events.

Multi-Year Planning: Updating the Planning Process

Previously, these plans had to be filed by December 31 of each year for the next year. Regulators then had six months to review the plans and provide recommended changes to utilities. That meant that a plan filed at the end of 2023 for 2024 wasn’t evaluated until after it had already been implemented. This system wasn’t working.

In 2025, Oregon moved from a one-year to a three-year planning process. After being filed, regulators now have six months to analyze the plans and make recommendations. An independent evaluator, who is a utility wildfire mitigation expert, also provides feedback on whether the utility has met state requirements. At the end of the review, regulators either approve the plans as is or with recommendations. These plans will be in place for the next three years.

Where They’re At Now: Wildfire Plans

On December 31, 2025, Oregon’s electric utilities filed plans with state regulators for 2026, 2027, and 2028. After being reviewed, all the plans were approved with conditions.

This year, regulators directed the utilities to provide more information on their data, analysis methods, and measurable results. This information shows the effectiveness of utilities’ wildfire mitigation strategies to inform their next multi-year plan.

The utilities will be coming back to update regulators on where they are in implementing their current plans in 2027. CUB expects utilities to address regulators’ recommendations in their updates.

Advocating for Customers: CUB’s Role in Wildfire Mitigation

Throughout the wildfire mitigation plan review process, our staff advocates for customers’ interests by prioritizing cost-effective best practices. We also work closely with fellow energy advocates to demystify this complex process and explain plans. Regulators are working to make this process more transparent for community groups and the public.

Costs from wildfire mitigation plans can be passed on to customers.

Because customers ultimately foot the bill for wildfire mitigation, these plans must be evaluated to ensure they’re the lowest-cost option. Independent evaluators have consistently found that our electric utilities are not meeting the requirements.

At CUB, we believe investments in wildfire protections are important, but they also must be smart. While utilities are allowed to pass wildfire mitigation costs to customers, they can’t be given a blank check. Our staff consistently advocates for the least-cost strategies and holds utilities accountable for providing hard data to back up their plans.

CUB will continue to advocate for Oregon households and ensure we are only paying for necessary costs that protect our communities, not utility cash grabs.

Stay Up to Date on Oregon Utility Issues

CUB will continue to advocate for people in Oregon on major utility issues. Sign up for the CUB email list for the latest updates, action alerts, and news on policies that affect the utilities your home relies on.

Donate to CUB

To keep up with CUB, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and LinkedIn!

The reality is that utilities are not always able to keep the lights on during a wildfire. Public safety power shutoffs are a key tool for preventing utility-caused wildfires. But when it is safe to keep power flowing during and after a wildfire emergency, customers have protections from a disconnection for non-payment.

These protections keep our communities safe and healthy in our homes, specific to times surrounding evacuation notices and poor air quality events.

Protections: Disconnections for non-payment are limited during extreme heat and very poor air quality events.

You Need to Call Your Utility to Regain Service in Extreme Weather

Extreme weather protections are available for all customers. If you have been disconnected because of past-due bills ahead of an extreme weather event, you must call your utility company to get gas or power restored during the protected times. Utilities will not reconnect you automatically. Income-qualified customers and medical certificate customers are not required to pay up-front costs to reconnect in these instances.

Wildfire Evacuation Protections

Wildfire protections apply during Level 2 and Level 3 evacuation notices issued in a customer’s area. These protections only apply to all for-profit utilities (PGE, Pacific Power, Idaho Power, NW Natural, Cascade, and Avista).

All Residential Customers:

• No disconnections for 48 hours after wildfire evacuation notices have been lifted.
• No up-front costs for reconnection for anyone who has been disconnected up to seven days before the event. Past due balances and applicable reconnection fees will be applied later.

Protecting Against Wildfires: Public Safety Power Shutoffs

During periods of high wildfire risk, utilities may shut off power to lower the risk of creating or worsening a fire. Shutting off power during fire season is itself a public hazard, which is why Oregon’s electric utilities use this option only as a last resort. Shutoffs can interrupt cell phone service, delay emergency response, and endanger the health of residents. These kinds of outages are particularly hazardous when they coincide with extreme heat waves.

Not all Oregonians are subject to these preventative outages. Only customers in certain high-risk zones will see public safety shutoffs.

The best way to prepare for a public safety power shutoff is to stay informed ahead of time. Customers can sign up to receive alerts from their utility when a power shutoff is coming.

Portland General Electric:
Sign up for text alerts through your account. Download the PGE app for up-to-date alerts.

Pacific Power:
Sign up for text alerts through your account. Download the Pacific Power app for up-to-date alerts.

Idaho Power:
Sign up for text alerts through your account. Download the Idaho Power app to receive real-time alerts.

For more in-depth information on wildfire emergencies and alerts, download the FEMA mobile app to receive details on large-scale wildfires. During an emergency declaration, FEMA updates its app to ensure people have access to up-to-date evacuation information.

We need to keep each other safe and informed during wildfire season. Share these protections with your community to stay safe!

Stay Up to Date on Oregon Utility Issues

CUB will continue to advocate for people in Oregon on major utility issues. Sign up for the CUB email list for the latest updates, action alerts, and news on policies that affect the utilities your home relies on.

Donate to CUB

To keep up with CUB, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and LinkedIn!

Thankfully, permanent rules adopted by state regulators ensure Oregonians have better disconnection protections during poor air quality events. These protections are designed to keep more households connected to power, ensuring Oregonians can safely stay inside and access necessary air filter devices during hot, smoky weather.

Extreme Summer Weather: Disconnection Limits & Added Protections

Losing access to heating, cooling, and more in extreme weather can be life-threatening. Now, customers of Oregon’s for-profit utilities have stronger permanent protections.

Protections: Disconnections for non-payment are limited during extreme heat and very poor air quality events.

You Need to Call Your Utility to Regain Service in Extreme Weather

Extreme weather protections are available for all customers. If you have been disconnected because of past-due bills ahead of an extreme weather event, you must call your utility company to get gas or power restored during the protected times. Utilities will not reconnect you automatically. Income-qualified customers and medical certificate customers are not required to pay up-front costs to reconnect in these instances.

Air Quality Protections

Year-Round Protections
Air quality protections apply when the Air Quality Index (AQI) is forecasted to be at or above 100, no matter the time of year. These protections only apply to all for-profit utilities (PGE, Pacific Power, Idaho Power, NW Natural, Cascade, and Avista).

All Residential Customers:

• No disconnections during the air quality event and 48 hours after.

Bill Discount Program Participants & Medical Certificate Holders:

• No disconnections during the air quality event and 48 hours after.
• No up-front costs for reconnection for anyone who has been disconnected up to seven days before the event. Past due balances and applicable reconnection fees will be applied later.

Help us keep each other safe and informed during extreme summer weather. Share these disconnection protections with your community!

Stay Up to Date on Oregon Utility Issues

CUB will continue to advocate for people in Oregon on major utility issues. Sign up for the CUB email list for the latest updates, action alerts, and news on policies that affect the utilities your home relies on.

Donate to CUB

To keep up with CUB, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and LinkedIn!

Register today for the 2026 CUB Energy Policy Conference and save! Early Bird registration closes at 5:00 pm on September 18.

Register Today

2026 Conference Theme: Harnessing Local Energy

Finding Local Solutions to (Inter)National Energy Challenges
In just the last few years, Oregon’s energy landscape has seen many big, new challenges. We’ve seen hyperscaled energy demand from data centers, cuts to federal support for customers and utilities, large rate increases, and record household disconnections. With all of these hurdles, attention is increasingly turning to what we can do close to home to address both our energy needs and the human impacts of our industry.

In a world with increasingly globalized energy, we need to start to think more locally for solutions.

Panel 2A—Local Takes the Lead: The Future of Gas in Oregon

Oregonians across the state are pushing their community leaders and utilities to invest in policies that focus on moving us away from fossil fuels. Natural gas utilities may have fewer tools available to achieve this goal, regardless of the future of the Climate Protection Program.  But across the state, gas utilities, local governments, and community organizations are pursuing getting creative in transitioning customers away from gas appliances. And different approaches will be needed to meet the needs of local communities. In this panel, attendees will hear diverse perspectives on balancing climate imperatives with operational realities.

What is on the horizon for electrification for gas customers? How are local community leaders working to make appliances in our homes and businesses more efficient? What lessons can we learn from local efforts to decarbonize the gas system in their communities? And what is the role of gas in a decarbonizing energy system?

Moderator: Emily Dougan, Utility Analyst, Oregon CUB

About the Conference

The CUB Energy Policy Conference is designed as a day of discussion, networking, and sharing diverse perspectives. This conference is ideal for community groups, regulators, advocates, utility representatives, attorneys, or those interested in our region’s energy industry.

16th Annual CUB Energy Policy Conference

Friday, October 2, 2026
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sentinel Hotel
614 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97205

Conference Website

Stay Up to Date on Oregon Utility Issues

CUB will continue to advocate for people in Oregon on major utility issues. Sign up for the CUB email list for the latest updates, action alerts, and news on policies that affect the utilities your home relies on.

Donate to CUB

To keep up with CUB, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and LinkedIn!

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.

Read More: Regulators Adopt Phase 1 FAIR Energy Act Proposal (CUB Blog)

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!

Stay Up to Date on Oregon Utility Issues

CUB will continue to advocate for people in Oregon on major utility issues. Sign up for the CUB email list for the latest updates, action alerts, and news on policies that affect the utilities your home relies on.

Donate to CUB

To keep up with CUB, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and LinkedIn!

Stop 1: Generation

We started the tour at Chapman Square, near the SW waterfront, for introductions and a discussion on generation. Generation is the act of creating electrical energy from a resource, such as fossil fuels, like coal or natural gas, or a renewable source, like solar or wind.

We chose Chapman Square as our first stop because it’s the endpoint of the first long-distance transmission line in North America, connecting Willamette Falls to Portland. Willamette Falls was Oregon’s first electric generating dam.

We discussed Oregon’s generation makeup, what our state’s energy generation has looked like, what it’s transitioning to, and where we would like go to have a green transition over the coming years.

According to the Oregon Department of Energy, as of 2024, Oregon’s energy mix comes from:

• Hydro - 33.91%
• Natural Gas - 20.41%
• Wind - 7.85%
• Coal - 8.29%
• Solar - 3.90%

Do you have a preferred form of generation? If so, share in the comments what you prefer and what you would like to see more of in Oregon!

Stop 2: Transmission

Transmission is the physical transportation of the energy produced at a generation site to local areas where it will be used. This energy can travel hundreds of miles before entering your home to power your devices, keep your home warm, and light up our city.

Electricity travels on high-voltage transmission lines that span the state and bind our grid together, making it possible for us to go about our days without questioning if the lights will turn on when we flip a switch.

Transmission doesn’t always have to span hundreds of miles to make it to you and other customers. On this tour, we stopped in front of the Oregon Convention Center, which houses about six thousand solar panels on its roof! This generation is right in the heart of the city. According to the Energy Trust, they have a 2MW capacity and provide about 25% of the convention center’s energy needs. However, these panels only provide power for the convention center itself.

There is, however, a community solar park out near the Cully neighborhood that also provides generation within city limits. This project provides energy credits for 150 low-income Cully families, and makes renewables accessible to demographics that may not be able to access rooftop solar. 

Read More: When a Solar Panel is More Than a Solar Panel (CUB Blog)

Stop 3: Distribution

Community members gathered across from the Knott Substation owned by Pacific Power. We gathered to hear Joe D’Ambrosia explain what a substation is and does for our grid.

The final stretch of our group ride took us up NE 7th to Matt Dishman Community Center and the Knott Substation. Along the way, we could see the web of distribution cables that connected all the homes in the Irvington neighborhood to our grid.

Did you know one of the largest chunks of your bills is actually made up of distribution costs? All of this statewide infrastructure is necessary to keep our homes connected to the grid. Compare this to large industries or commercial businesses that are a little more concentrated and easier to connect to the grid. This is why residential rates for distribution are larger than other customers.

While in front of the Knott substation, community member and Electrical Engineer, Joe D’ Ambrosia, joined us to explain what a substation is and does. In short, substations are the bits of infrastructure that take all the high-voltage electricity sent over from generating sites and convert it, or “step it down,” to lower voltages that then will be distributed to our homes, businesses, or other needs depending on the type of substation being used.

Last Stop: Public Comment Workshop

The final stop on the bike tour was the PacifiCorp headquarters in the Lloyd district. Here, we talked about the ongoing request from Pacific Power to increase customers’ bills. In this public comment workshop, we went through the details about the request and how community members can get involved.

Read More: Pacific Power Requests 11.3% Residential Increase (CUB Blog)

There was a lot of discussion on the projected sale of Pacific Power’s Washington state territories to PGE, and the addition of Washington coal generation costs onto Oregonian bills. Community members were also interested in learning about the recent years of rate increases and how they impact Oregonians throughout the state.

In 2025, Oregon saw its second record-breaking year for disconnections. Oregonians are maxed out on what they can afford for energy. Pacific Power has already raised rates by more than 50% between 2021 and 2025, and now they’re asking for an additional 11%.

Look Out for More Bike Tours From CUB

Feedback from participants was positive, so CUB looks forward to hosting another bike tour in the future. If you’re interested in getting involved with CUB, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on our socials to keep up with the latest on what we’re up to!

Stay Up to Date on Oregon Utility Issues

CUB will continue to advocate for people in Oregon on major utility issues. Sign up for the CUB email list for the latest updates, action alerts, and news on policies that affect the utilities your home relies on.

Donate to CUB

To keep up with CUB, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and LinkedIn!

Extreme Summer Weather: Disconnection Limits & Added Protections

Losing access to heating, cooling, and more in extreme weather can be life-threatening. Now, customers of Oregon’s for-profit utilities have stronger permanent protections.

Protections: Disconnections for non-payment are limited during extreme heat and very poor air quality events.

You Need to Call Your Utility to Regain Service in Extreme Weather

Extreme weather protections are available for all customers. If you have been disconnected because of past-due bills ahead of an extreme weather event, you must call your utility company to get gas or power restored during the protected times. Utilities will not reconnect you automatically. Income-qualified customers and medical certificate customers are not required to pay up-front costs to reconnect in these instances.

Hot Weather Protections

Year-Round Heat Protections
Hot-weather protections apply when there is an extreme heat warning, extreme heat watch, or heat advisory issued, no matter the time of year. These protections only apply to electric utilities (PGE, Pacific Power, and Idaho Power).

All Electric Residential Customers:

• No disconnections 24 hours before a hot weather event, during the event, and 48 hours after.

Electric Bill Discount Program Participants & Medical Certificate Holders:

• No disconnections 24 hours before a winter weather event, during the event, and 48 hours after.
• No upfront costs for reconnection for anyone who has been disconnected up to seven days before the event. Past due balances and applicable reconnection fees will be applied later.

Air Quality Protections

Year-Round Protections
Air quality protections apply when the Air Quality Index (AQI) is forecasted to be at or above 100, no matter the time of year. These protections only apply to all for-profit utilities (PGE, Pacific Power, Idaho Power, NW Natural, Cascade, and Avista).

All Residential Customers:

• No disconnections during the air quality event and 48 hours after.

Bill Discount Program Participants & Medical Certificate Holders:

• No disconnections during the air quality event and 48 hours after.
• No up-front costs for reconnection for anyone who has been disconnected up to seven days before the event. Past due balances and applicable reconnection fees will be applied later.

Wildfire Evacuation Protections

Wildfire protections apply during Level 2 and Level 3 evacuation notices issued in a customer’s area. These protections only apply to all for-profit utilities (PGE, Pacific Power, Idaho Power, NW Natural, Cascade, and Avista).

All Residential Customers:

• No disconnections for 48 hours after wildfire evacuation notices have been lifted.
• No up-front costs for reconnection for anyone who has been disconnected up to seven days before the event. Past due balances and applicable reconnection fees will be applied later.

Protecting Against Wildfires: Public Safety Power Shutoffs

During periods of high wildfire risk, utilities may shut off power to mitigate the risk of a fire. Shutting off power during fire season is itself a public hazard, which is why Oregon’s electric utilities use this option only as a last resort. Shutoffs can interrupt cell phone service, delay emergency response, and endanger the health of residents. These kinds of outages are particularly hazardous when they coincide with extreme heat waves.

Not all Oregonians are subject to these preventative outages. Only customers in certain high-risk zones will see public safety shutoffs.

The best way to prepare for a public safety shutoff is to stay informed ahead of time. Customers can sign up to receive alerts from their utility when a power shutoff is coming.

Portland General Electric:
Sign up for text alerts through your account. Download the PGE app for up-to-date alerts.

Pacific Power:
Sign up for text alerts through your account. Download the Pacific Power app for up-to-date alerts.

Idaho Power:
Sign up for text alerts through your account. Download the Idaho Power app to receive real-time alerts.

For more in-depth information on wildfire emergencies and alerts, download the FEMA mobile app to receive details on large-scale wildfires. During an emergency declaration, FEMA updates its app to ensure people have access to up-to-date evacuation information.

We need to keep each other safe and informed during extreme summer weather. Share these protections with your community to stay safe!

Stay Up to Date on Oregon Utility Issues

CUB will continue to advocate for people in Oregon on major utility issues. Sign up for the CUB email list for the latest updates, action alerts, and news on policies that affect the utilities your home relies on.

Donate to CUB

To keep up with CUB, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and LinkedIn!