Oregon regulators voted Tuesday to boost prices for some data centers — and lower costs for other customers — under a first-in-the-nation law designed to prevent households from paying for tech companies’ infrastructure.
The state Public Utility Commission unanimously approved a new tariff from Portland General Electric, Oregon’s largest electric utility, that will see data centers pay an average of 29 percent more for electricity starting Wednesday.
Residential customers, meanwhile, will pay about 1.3 percent less under the rates. According to commission staff, that would translate to about $1.91 in monthly savings for the average household.
The rate structure is the first approved under last year’s POWER Act, a bipartisan measure requiring data centers in Oregon to shoulder more of the cost of their electric infrastructure. Gov. Tina Kotek (D) has lauded the law for addressing one of the biggest — and politically volatile — effects of the data center boom.
