Oregon’s New Data Center Tariff Could Change Who Pays for AI Growth

Schedule 96 Is Drawing a Clearer Line Between Grid Growth and Customer Costs

Schedule 96 Turns the AI Power Debate into a Billing Debate

For the last year, the energy conversation around AI has mostly sounded like a grid planning problem. Can utilities build enough generation? Can transmission keep up?

Those questions still matter, but Oregon’s new large-load tariff shows where the debate is headed next. The AI power debate is moving from the grid planning room to the customer bill.

In May 2026, the Oregon Public Utility Commission approved a new rate structure for large data centers and other large-load customers served by Portland General Electric. The decision creates Schedule 96, a dedicated customer class required under Oregon’s POWER Act, which was designed to prevent fast-growing data center demand from pushing utility costs onto households and small businesses.[1]

In simple terms, Oregon is saying that if your load is big enough to change the grid, your bill should look different too.

Why Oregon’s Data Center Tariff Matters Now

Data centers are no longer a niche utility load. They are becoming a major driver of near-term electricity demand, especially as AI workloads increase the need for high-density computing.

A recent U.S. Department of Energy release summarizing the latest national data center energy report found that data centers consumed about 4.4% of total U.S. electricity in 2023. That percentage is projected to rise to 12% by 2028, with total data center electricity use climbing from 176 TWh in 2023 to an estimated 325 to 580 TWh by 2028.[2]

The United States is one of the regions in the world where data center electricity growth is expected to be significant. The International Energy Agency projects that the United States and China will account for nearly 80% of global data center electricity demand growth through 2030, with U.S. data center consumption rising by about 240 TWh from 2024 levels.[3]

That's where Oregon’s Schedule 96 becomes important. It gives a fast-growing load category its own billing framework, instead of treating massive new demand like ordinary industrial growth.

What Schedule 96 Actually Does

Schedule 96 does more than raise rates. It itemizes responsibility.

The new structure creates a dedicated rate class for large-load data center customers in PGE territory. It applies to major projects above the 20 MW threshold, including data centers, crypto-related loads, and other large industrial energy users.[4][5]

The tariff also makes large customers more directly responsible for the infrastructure needed to serve their projects. According to Utility Dive’s reporting on the order, the framework requires customers to cover 100% of distribution network upgrades needed for their projects. It also sets minimum generation and transmission demand charges at 90% of contracted system capacity, even if the customer uses less than expected.[5]

This is significant because utilities often have to build or reserve capacity before a customer’s actual usage is fully proven. If a large customer overestimates its need, underuses the infrastructure, or leaves early, the rest of the system can be left holding the cost. Schedule 96 includes minimum charges and exit fees to reduce that risk.[4]

Most importantly, the tariff changes the visibility of cost causation. Instead of spreading growth-related costs broadly across customer classes, Oregon is creating a clearer connection between the load that drives the investment and the bill that recovers the cost.

Oregon’s answer is not to stop data center development. It is to make the costs more visible, more traceable, and more difficult to shift onto other customers.

In essence, Schedule 96 is cost-causation made visible.

Growth is Welcome, But the Subsidy Question is Getting Louder

Data centers can bring investment, construction activity, tax revenue, digital infrastructure, and economic development. States do not want to push that growth away, especially when the digital economy is becoming a larger part of regional competitiveness. This is the tension every fast-growth utility territory is facing.

At the same time, residential customers and small businesses are sensitive to rising utility bills. If commercial and large-load growth is driving more investment, customers want reassurance that they are not paying for infrastructure built for someone else.

OPB reported that PGE’s implementation proposal would raise rates for large-load users like data centers by 29%, while residential customers would see a 1.3% decrease and commercial customers a 2.2% decrease if approved.[5]

That is what makes Oregon’s approach worth watching. Schedule 96 does not reject growth. It gives growth a more transparent framework.

Clean Energy Makes the Tariff Even More Important

Schedule 96 connects large-load growth to Oregon’s broader clean electricity framework.

Under the state’s clean energy targets, Portland General Electric, PacifiCorp, and electricity service suppliers must reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electricity sold in Oregon by 80% below baseline levels by 2030, 90% by 2035, and 100% by 2040.[7] In other words, every major new load has to be evaluated against a power system that is already under a legally defined decarbonization timeline.

The Oregon PUC’s Schedule 96 order brings that obligation directly into the large-load conversation. It ties large-load service requirements to clean energy availability and state emissions requirements, meaning data center growth plans must scale without undermining the utility’s emissions obligations.[1][4]

That is an important distinction. If the load is large enough to require new capacity, it also has to be planned in a way that aligns with Oregon’s clean electricity path.

Lastly, Oregon is linking growth, cost responsibility, and clean energy compliance all together. That makes Schedule 96 more than a data center tariff. It makes it an early test of whether utilities can support AI-era load growth without weakening affordability, accountability, or climate commitments.

The Hard Part Starts After Approval: What Utilities Should Take From Oregon’s Schedule 96

Oregon has succeeded at making the cost of AI-era load growth more visible. Now comes the harder work of making the systems behind that visibility reliable.

Schedule 96 has to move from regulatory language into the everyday machinery of the utility. Customer class must be coded correctly. Minimum charges and exit fees must calculate accurately. Meter data, interconnection milestones, clean energy obligations, surcharges, and reporting requirements all have to line up behind the scenes.

If they don't, the risk is not theoretical. Because in the end, customer protections have to show up accurately on the bill.

This pivotal moment will be led by the utilities that can turn policy into operational reality. Tamazari helps teams bridge that gap. From complex system implementations to data, operations, and enterprise modernization, we help utility leaders turn new requirements into working processes that hold up in the real world.

Learn more about our Utility Billing Modernization services.

Footnotes

[1] Oregon Public Utility Commission, “Oregon PUC Approves New Rate Structure To Protect Customers Amid Rapid Data Center Growth,” May 7, 2026. https://flashalert.net/id/PUC/188407

[2] U.S. Department of Energy, “DOE Releases New Report Evaluating Increase in Electricity Demand from Data Centers,” Dec. 20, 2024. https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-releases-new-report-evaluating-increase-electricity-demand-data-centers

[3] International Energy Agency, “Energy Demand from AI,” Energy and AI report, 2025. https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/energy-demand-from-ai

[4] Utility Dive, “Oregon PUC approves PGE’s large-load tariff framework for data centers,” May 28, 2026. https://www.utilitydive.com/news/oregon-puc-approves-pges-large-load-tariff-framework-for-data-centers/821361/

[5] OPB, “Portland General Electric to increase data center rates by 29%, cut residential rates by 1.3%,” June 4, 2026. https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/04/data-centers-utility-rate-pge/

[6] OPB, “Oregon utility regulators delay PGE’s data center rate increase for a month,” June 10, 2026. https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/10/oregon-utility-regulators-delay-pge-data-centers/

[7] Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, “Oregon Clean Energy Targets.” https://www.oregon.gov/deq/ghgp/pages/clean-energy-targets.aspx