Sign On to the Community Letter to Protect Oregon Lifeline

In 2025, the Oregon Legislature passed the POWER Act to help utilities rein in data centers’ adding costs to Oregonians’ energy bills. Now, over the next six months, Pacific Power will begin to reckon with the same process to address data centers, Oregon’s largest and fastest-growing energy users.

The Problem:
Pacific Power is not providing clear information about how it intends to protect Oregonians and hold data centers accountable for their own energy use.

Last fall, Portland General Electric (PGE) began the work to roll out this new law in practice. Though originally proposing a rate system that came up short in holding data centers accountable, thanks to immense community pushback, PGE played ball and proposed a more equitable rate structure for dividing data-center-driven costs. We know that our voices combined can move utilities to hold data centers accountable.

We need you to tell regulators that Pacific Power must negotiate in good faith and provide all the details for how they plan on protecting customers from data center costs!

This year, Cascade Natural Gas is asking regulators to approve a 17.4% increase in home billing rates. This is the first time Cascade has asked for a big increase since 2020. Cascade’s initial request includes infrastructure projects, higher profits for shareholders, and investments in renewable natural gas. CUB is also investigating the gas utility’s policy that requires customers to subsidize new hookups for homes and businesses, expanding the gas system.

Overall, Cascade is requesting $16.4 million from all customers. $10.3 million of the request would apply to residential customers. Households could see average home gas bills rise to $75 per month (an $11 per month increase). The impact would be even greater in the winter months when usage is higher. For an average customer paying $119 in January 2025, Cascade’s request would raise that to about $135 in January 2027. If approved, this increase would go into effect on October 31, 2026. Additionally, Cascade will be asking for its annual adjustment for fuel costs on top of this rate case, so customers may see further increases this year.

We need your help to stop gas bills from going up for questionable investments, expanding the gas system, and higher profits for shareholders.

CUB Community Call

When: Thursday, March 25th, 5:30 - 6:30 pm PT
Where: Online, via Google Meet

Join CUB for a monthly community call on how to organize for a better energy future and take action on utility issues impacting you!

In 2024, utilities disconnected nearly 70,000 Oregon households. Rising energy costs are impacting all Oregonians, leading many to choose between paying their energy bills and affording necessities like groceries, rent, or gas. Whether it’s unstable methane pricing and its effects on energy prices, or subsidizing data center costs, Oregonians are facing an assault on affordability!

In response, CUB is hosting a recurring community call to channel frustration into action before the Public Utility Commission and the state legislature. It’s important we take every opportunity to fight for our energy affordability!

For years, CenturyLink has failed customers, especially seniors and rural communities, by not delivering on its promises to provide quality telephone service. This is especially true in Jacksonville, Oregon, where customers have experienced years of reliability issues with CenturyLink’s landline phone service. Despite orders to fix their faulty service, chronic issues remain, such as dropped calls and service outages, poor customer service, and unreliable landline service.

No more broken promises. We need to hold CenturyLink accountable for fixing its unreliable service, especially when they’re asking to increase customers’ bills. We need your help to demand that CenturyLink be held financially responsible if they don’t fix their faulty service, and that regulators don’t raise rates until their service is safe and reliable for all Oregon customers.

Take action today to hold CenturyLink accountable!

Climate change is creating a new reality in Oregon: hotter, drier summers spur frequent heat waves and bad air quality events from wildfires. All Oregonians deserve to stay cool and safe during the summer, but not everyone can access air conditioning or other cooling devices. We need to do better for our communities and advocate for long-term solutions to extreme summer weather. Will you help us improve our advocacy by sharing your extreme summer weather story?

It’s crucial that we talk about how these events impact our households and communities, especially communities most affected by climate change. Sharing your extreme summer weather story with CUB helps us better understand and advocate for your utility needs during extreme summer weather. Your stories will be shared in public communications and with decision-makers. We will only use your first name, city, and story in CUB materials to protect your privacy.

Take action by sharing your extreme summer weather story today!

Having your power shut off or being behind on your energy bills can be incredibly stressful. No one should have to choose between paying their electricity bill and food, medicine, or other necessities. Unfortunately, this is the reality for many families and households in Oregon.

Thankfully, regulators are working to address Oregon’s energy affordability crisis by considering new rules around how utilities handle past-due bills and disconnections. CUB is asking you to share your experience with past-due energy bills and having your power shut off with us.

Take action now by sharing your past-due bills story!

Pacific Power is opening the door to pass off more than $90 million to customers after being found liable for the Labor Day Fires. The utility has filed a request to utility regulators that could open up a pathway for customers to cover these costs. If approved, this could mean the very communities affected by the wildfires Pacific Power was found responsible for could be charged for the court damages.

We need regulators to step up and reject Pacific Power’s filing to hold the utility responsible for wildfire damages, not customers.