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Oregon PUC outlines multi-year timeline to implement 2025 energy laws
Summary
PUC officials told the Senate Energy and Environment Committee they have launched rulemakings and stakeholder workshops to implement the FAIR Act, performance-based regulation, the Power Act for data centers, and microgrid directives, with major rulemaking dockets expected to conclude by 2027.
Laura Tabor, legislative affairs director at the Oregon Public Utility Commission, and Caroline Moore, the PUC's energy program director, briefed the Senate Energy and Environment Committee on the agency's implementation work for several 2025 laws.
Tabor said the PUC is juggling multiple rulemakings and planning processes tied to affordability, regulatory reform and clean energy while managing limited staffing: the agency received five new FTEs in the 2025 session but has not yet filled those positions because of uncertainty and reliance on vacancy-savings in the budget. Tabor said the PUC's budget supports roughly 140 FTE overall.
Tabor described House Bill 3179 (the FAIR Act) and Senate Bill 688 (performance-based regulation) as linked priorities; the PUC opened a combined rulemaking (docket AR 676) in December to build a multiyear ratemaking framework and incorporate performance incentives. "We anticipate that this rulemaking will complete by 2027," Tabor said, noting the commission has held educational workshops and will move into detailed rule drafting in the spring.
She also summarized House Bill 3546 (referred to as the Power Act), which directs the PUC to assign the costs of serving large data-center customers to those customers and to set parameters for long-term contracts and tariffs. The PUC is integrating that direction into an ongoing investigation and expects a tariff schedule for one utility this spring.
On microgrids, Tabor said House Bills 2065 and 2066 require a phased rulemaking approach; the commission adopted an initial scope in December and will prioritize simpler, in-front-of-meter microgrids with a target to complete initial rules by March 2027 and then address more complex microgrids in subsequent phases.
Committee members asked how multiyear ratemaking ties to performance-based regulation and about the PUC's capacity to carry out these dockets. Tabor and Moore explained multiyear rate plans are one PBR tool commonly coupled with performance measures to align utility incentives with public-interest outcomes and that the PUC is refining work plans to balance new directives with existing workloads.
The committee thanked the PUC staff for the update and was invited to consult the published implementation plan in the meeting materials for further detail. No formal action was taken during the briefing.
