A bill that aims to require large energy users like use is headed to the governor鈥檚 desk to be signed into law.
On Thursday,, short for 鈥淧rotecting Oregonians With Energy Responsibility,鈥� leaped the final hurdle after Oregon House representatives voted to send it to the governor.
Sarah Wochele, equity analyst and advocate with consumer advocacy group Oregon Citizens鈥� Utility Board, said the legislation is about energy affordability, consumer protections and holding large energy users accountable.
鈥� because Oregonians have continued to struggle to keep up with quickly rising energy costs, and some of those cost increases came from data centers coming onto our shared grid,鈥� Wochele said.
According to Oregon CUB, large industrial users, like data centers, that have connected to Portland General Electric鈥檚 system pay about 8 cents per kilowatt hour, or kWH, which is the unit of energy used when 1,000 watts of power is used in an hour. Residential customers in the same PGE system pay close to 20 cents per kilowatt hour.
HB 3546 creates a new classification for data centers, cryptocurrency and other large industrial energy users using more than 20 megawatts, or 20 million watts of power, to pay for their share of electricity use and costs.
One megawatt could power between 400 and 1,000 homes, depending on the power source and electricity consumption within the home.
The legislation also requires large energy users to sign a 10-year contract that commits them to pay a minimum amount for energy used as well as pay for adding new transmission.
鈥淭he POWER Act focuses on a subset of energy users that have a massive impact on the electrical grid. A 30-megawatt data center will use as much electricity as the City of Ashland and can be constructed in less than two years, and the number of data centers requesting service is unparalleled,鈥� Oregon state Rep. Pam Marsh, D- Southern Jackson County, chief sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. 鈥淭hat demand is unique and requires a distinct solution.鈥�
The POWER Act is part of the that more than 50 climate, environmental and energy affordability groups are asking legislators to pass.
Earlier this year, the, saying it gives the Oregon Public Utilities Commission new tools to protect 鈥淥regonians from unfair cost burdens while also supporting the reliability of the electric grid.鈥�
Currently, the Oregon Public Utilities Commission, which regulates rates, has six customer categories that split the costs of things like adding new transmission to the power grid. Those categories include residential, commercial and industrial customers. Data centers fall under the industrial customers category.
But data centers have outgrown the pace of the current system of categories. There are, according to Data Center Map鈥檚 database.
According to Wochele, Oregon is a favorable place to build data centers because of its accessibility to reliable hydropower, a cool and mild climate and tax incentives.
鈥淲e really do check pretty much every box of what the industry might be looking for when they鈥檙e building data centers,鈥� she said.
Opponents of the legislation stated it could unintentionally stop data centers from coming to Oregon by shifting these costs back to them. Others like to develop legislation that would create 鈥渃omprehensive solutions that advances shared goals without unintended consequences.鈥�
The legislation will affect Portland General Electric, Pacific Power and Idaho Power customers in Oregon.
