Oregon
Legislation could impact energy costs, utility operations in Oregon
What to know about the Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislature meets annually either in a short of long legislative session. Here’s what to know.
Bills that would make renewable energy technology a cost-neutral option for homeowners, make the electric grid more resilient by turning homes and electric cars into a virtual network of power plants and allow electric companies to self-insure are among those the state Oregon Legislature is considering in the 2026 session.
The slate of bills is nowhere near as transformative as the multiple laws passed in the 2025 legislative session, but this year’s proposed laws have the potential to make an enormous impact.
Investor-owned utilities in Oregon such as Portland General Electric, Pacific Corp and Northwest Natural receive exclusive territories in the state. In exchange, they’re regulated by the Oregon Public Utilities Commission.
These are the bills and how they would impact customers:
Senate Bill 1588 would require power companies to help consumers finance energy-efficient devices
Senate Bill 1588 would require electric companies to allow customers to buy things like electric heat pumps, energy storage systems and solar panels and pay for those items through a monthly charge on their bill. Those purchases would not increase the customer’s total bill.
That way, customers could purchase and use energy-efficient devices in their homes and not bear any additional costs. The mechanism would be similar to the way mobile carriers allow customers to purchase a new phone and pay the device off in installments.
“There’s still a cost gap that remains for too many Oregonians,” Claire Prihoda, policy manager of Climate Solutions, said during a public utilities commission meeting on Feb. 9.
Serena Campas, senior associate for policy at Rewiring America said utilities in other states have been operating similar programs for more than 15 years.
Most homeowners currently take out loans from separate companies to buy a solar power system or battery from a third party. They pay the loan at approximately the same rate they did when they were paying their full electric bill.
PGE opposes the bill and its lobbyist, Chloe Becker, said the utility is concerned about its obligations to set up the financing part of the program because it is not a lender.
Becker said that a $7,500 ductless heat pump could take 30 years for a homeowner to pay off.
“When we run the numbers using those parameters it raises questions for us about this model working in Oregon,” Becker said during a public utilities commission meeting Feb. 9.
Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, the chief sponsor of the bill, disputed the cost estimates and said it only mandates the power companies to submit proposals.
“Some of what was said is not in fact mandated at all,” Golden said.
Golden said loans for the energy efficient products would stay with the home when it is sold. That means the payment would follow the home and the next owner would still benefit from the energy savings.
“This is not consumer lending. I have heard some confusion about that. It is a utility rate tariff defining the service on terms that are just reasonable and fair determined by the public utility commission,” said Matt Flaherty, director of building decarbonization at Clean Energy Work.
The bill is next scheduled for a work session in the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment at 3 p.m. on Feb. 11.
Senate Bill 1582 would require utilities to develop virtual powerplants
Senate Bill 1582 would require investor-owned power companies to develop distributed power plant programs, also called virtual powerplants, through third-party companies.
Distributed power plants are networks of homes with solar power, batteries and electric cars that can put power back into the grid in times of high need, such as when temperatures are extremely high or low.
The owners of the homes are paid for participating in the programs.
Franco Albi, director of regional integration for Portland General Electric, said the company started developing such a so-called virtual power plant in 1999.
He said PGE has 230,000 customers and that the program produces as much power as the utility’s coal-burning plant in Boardman.
Albi said PGE already works with third-party aggregators in the programs and that the company opposes the bill because it’s essentially doing the same thing already without a law.
“We believe that the PUC is the right place to define the resource requirements,” Albi said. “That happens today and it’s through rulemaking, not statute and especially not statute rushed through a short session.”
Others argued that the pace investor–owned companies are establishing virtual power plants isn’t fast enough to meet projected need in Oregon.
“We need these higher adoption rates for economies of scale,” Sen. Courtney Neron Misslin, D-Wilsonville, a sponsor of the bill. “The third-party aggregators are the ones that allow this to build to an economy of scale.”
The Public Utility Commission in a letter warned that the bill could increase costs for customers because utility companies may need to increase their scale so third-party aggregators can participate.
Power companies, including PGE, have invested in building large-scale battery energy storage systems, which do the same thing. They are large scale and the company owns or leases those.
Marion County banned such systems in 2025.
The bill is scheduled for a work session in the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment at 3 p.m. on Feb. 11.
House Bill 4077 would allow public utilities to self-insure
House Bill 4077 would allow public utility companies to issue bonds in order to start a program to insure themselves.
It would require utilities to get approval by the public utility commission to do so.
Self-insurance is essentially a savings account for claims. A captive insurance program is a formal program that essentially does the same.
“This type of insurance can have several benefits,” said Jennifer Hill-Hart, the policy director for the Oregon Citizens Utility Board, a non-profit that advocates for energy affordability.
PacificCorp faces an estimated $8 billion in claims related to the 2020 wildfires in Oregon and California, according to estimates from parent company Berkshire Hathaway.
PGE voiced support for the bill.
“At PGE, we’ve seen our annual insurance premiums increase 180% in the last five years,” said Jay Tinker, a senior manager for the utility. “We are not alone in experiencing these increases and utilities as a sector are at risk of being unable to secure insurance coverage.”
The bill is scheduled for a committee work session at 8 a.m. on Feb. 12.
House Bill 4025 would allow rate increases in the winter
House Bill 4025 allows rate increases for public utilities other than electrical and natural gas companies to increase rates between Nov. 1 and March 31.
A law passed in the 2025 legislative session, House Bill 3179, prevented those companies from increasing rates during the winter months.
“After the bill passed, it was flagged that the way the law was written, it would apply to water utilities as well,” said State Rep. Nathan Sosa, D-Hillsboro, the bill’s sponsor.
The bill passed by a 51-7 vote on Feb. 10 by the House of Representatives and next advances to the Senate.
Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com
Federal agents are responding after explosives were found in a vehicle that crashed into the front entrance of an Oregon athletic club Saturday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said. A person was found dead inside the vehicle.
Portland Fire and Rescue responded to a report of a vehicle driving into the club’s front entrance at 2:49 a.m. local time, according to a news release from the department.
The vehicle caught fire after the crash, the department said. Once the blaze was brought under control, law enforcement found the deceased person inside. The Portland Police Department’s Explosive Disposal Unit responded after evidence of an explosive device was found in the vehicle.
The person has not been identified, and an investigation is ongoing, police said.
The club said in a statement that the facility will remain closed until further notice and that they are expecting a prolonged closure.
“Our team is cooperating fully with the Portland Police Bureau and Portland Fire & Rescue, who are leading the investigation. Out of respect for that process, we will defer to them for additional details,” the statement said.
This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — An Oregon woman will spend the rest of her life behind bars for the murder of her ex.
A Coos County jury convicted 46-year-old Reina Jackson of second-degree murder this week following a three-week trial for the death of her former husband in 2021.
“Dr. Craig Jackson served his country, built a career dedicated to caring for people, and was building a new life for himself and his daughter,” said Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield.
“What happened to him was brutal and calculated. His family deserved justice, and the sentence reflects the gravity of what was done.”
Dr. Craig Jackson, Reina’s ex-husband and a physician at Bay Clinic in Coos Bay, was shot and killed in his home in North Bend on Aug. 2, 2021. The couple recently had a contentious divorce and Dr. Jackson was granted full custody of their daughter.
Evidence submitted by the state at trial suggested that Reina conspired with two others to carry out the attack. According to a memo from prosecutors, Reina broke into her ex’s home with two others in the middle of the night and fought with him in his bedroom. She shot him in his rectum and then through his head.
His new wife, who had been lying in bed with him when Reina and the others entered, said she quickly rolled off the bed and hid underneath it. When she believed it was safe, she came and found her husband shot and lying in the hallway.
Police later found a hand-drawn map of Dr. Jackson’s home in Reina’s vehicle and DNA evidence of two unknown men who are believed to have accompanied her. She was also on probation for previously breaking into his home and assaulting him.
Just before Reina was arrested, she withdrew her daughter from school and fled to Guatemala. She was later arrested in Atlanta after returning to the U.S. on June 10, 2023.
According to court documents obtained by KOIN 6 News, Dr. Jackson’s family believes Reina forged a check in his name for $40,000 and used the money to purchase land for herself in Guatemala. The check posted a few days after his death.
Reina was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Average gas prices have gone up nearly 20 cents a gallon in Oregon and Washington in the past week as tensions in the Middle East continue.
Washington state has the third most expensive gas in the country at an average of $5.57 a gallon for regular, followed by Oregon at fourth in the U.S. with roughly $5.15 per gallon for regular.
The average price for regular in the U.S. is $4.30 a gallon. AAA says the price of oil has surged to more than $100 a barrel, with no indication of when the Strait of Hormuz will be back open.
National Gas Price Comparison for 2023-26 as of April 30, 2026 – Graphic courtesy AAA
A poll found that half of all Americans expect gas prices to rise even higher in the next year.
That same poll from ABC and Ipsos said some Americans are changing their behaviors because of the higher gas prices.
About 4 in 10 people are driving less (44%) or have cut back on other household expenses (42%) to compensate.
More than a third have changed their travel or vacation plans, the poll said, and about 15% of people said they’ve considered buying an electric vehicle.
Pump prices are now the highest they’ve been during this time of year since 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed crude oil prices above $100 per barrel.
The poll found that about a quarter (23%) of all Americans are falling behind financially, which is up from 17%in February, before gas prices started to spike.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (1)
About half of those who took the poll said they have just enough to maintain their standard of living, while 24% said they are getting ahead – down from 28% in February.
-
Kansas5 minutes agoKansas City, Missouri, police searching for 30-year-old missing man
-
Kentucky11 minutes agoAnna Nicole Smith’s lookalike daughter turns heads in dramatic new look at Kentucky Derby as stars take over
-
Louisiana17 minutes agoAbortion pill dispute returns to Supreme Court
-
Maine23 minutes agoMaine fishermen’s bodies are breaking down. Where’s the help? | Opinion
-
Maryland29 minutes ago7 Delightful Towns to Visit in Maryland
-
Michigan35 minutes agoUCLA baseball scores four runs late for win over Michigan State
-
Massachusetts40 minutes agoThese 9 Towns in Massachusetts Have Beautiful Architecture
-
Minnesota47 minutes agoKids in Need Foundation provides $1 million in school supplies to Minnesota teachers