Oregon bill shielding utility rate increases from Big Tech passes Senate

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A bill passed the Oregon Senate on Tuesday that would shield Oregonians from paying higher utility costs to cover electricity usage by Big Tech facilities in the state.

House Bill 3546, known as the Protecting Oregonians with Energy Responsibility (POWER) Act, would hold companies behind facilities such as data centers or cryptocurrency operations, responsible for their own utility bills, the Democratic Majority Office announced in a press release.

The bill would establish a separate pricing system for electricity users that use more than 20 megawatts – which is roughly the same amount used to power a small city, the lawmakers explained.

“Data centers play an important role in our growing technology needs in the United States, and they need to pay their fair share for infrastructure required to meet their energy needs, rather than passing the costs on to residential ratepayers,” said Senator Janeen Sollman (D – Hillsboro, Forest Grove & Rock Creek), a chief sponsor of the measure in the Senate. “Large energy users have the potential to place significant strain on the grid, especially in regions where energy capacity is already stretched thin.”

Since 2021, electric rates from some power companies have risen by nearly 50% and thousands of families have had their power shut off because they could not afford the bill, the Democratic office said, noting large industrial users pay about two cents per kilowatt hour, while households are charged more than triple that rate.

“The cost to serve certain large energy users is spilling on to other ratepayers,” said Rep. Pam Marsh (D – Southern Jackson County), a chief sponsor of the bill in the House of Representatives. “This bill will help state regulators assign these high costs to the data centers and crypto mining entities that are consuming the energy.”

“Traditionally, growth in energy demand was relatively balanced across all users, justifying roughly equal distribution of costs. But the explosion of huge technology facilities has upended that traditional metric,” Marsh explained in a March House hearing for the bill. “Without intervention, the costs created by the disproportionate demand of big energy users will be borne by residential consumers who are already struggling.”

“The bill helps protect everyday users, like families and small businesses, from paying the costs that big businesses are running up,” Sen. Deb Patterson (D – Salem), a cosponsor of HB 3546, added in a statement after the bill’s passage. “Household budgets are stretched far enough as they are. They shouldn’t be covering corporate costs, too.”

The POWER Act passed the Senate in an 18-12 vote, moving the bill back to the Oregon House of Representatives for final passage.

In written testimony against the bill, Rep. David Brock Smith (R-Port Orford) raised concerns that the bill would discourage tech companies from growing their presence in Oregon.

In his letter – which was supported by industry advocates such as the Data Center Coalition along with unions IBEW 48, IBEW 280 and UA 290 – Brock Smith said, “data centers strengthen grid reliability through infrastructure investments and help stabilize residential electricity rates by providing consistent demand. The current proposed legislation, with its misaligned regulations, threatened these widespread community benefits and could discourage future development that supports our digital economy.”

The bill comes as large technology companies are facing two growing demands to raise their energy supply for artificial intelligence and data centers, while meeting long-term goals of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, as reported by the Associated Press.

AI uses “vast amounts of energy,” AP said, noting a 2024 report from the United States Department of Energy estimated that the electricity needed for data centers in the U.S. tripled in the last decade and is anticipated to double or triple again in 2028, when tech companies could consumer 12% of the nation’s energy.