Tell Regulators to Take Data Center Costs Off Our Home Energy Bills

This year, energy justice advocates have been hard at work tackling a big source of rising energy costs for many Oregonians: data centers. In June, we passed the POWER Act (HB 3546), a bill designed to hold data centers accountable for their own energy costs. Now that we’ve passed this new law, the work is just beginning.

This fall, regulators are considering a new framework for how PGE divides up costs for all of its different customer groups — including the new data center customer category. This case will become the template for how data center customers are charged for energy costs for all of Oregon’s for-profit utilities. We need to make sure regulators get it right the first time. We need your help to eliminate any new data centers’ energy costs from going onto the bills of our homes and small businesses, starting with PGE.

This case, UM 2377, is our first real shot at implementing the POWER Act. We need strong, forward-thinking regulations to hold utilities accountable for charging data centers for their own energy costs. While regulators are considering new paths forward, it is important that we make our voices heard!