• The Oregon legislature is considering bills to make renewable energy more accessible and the power grid more resilient.
• One bill would allow homeowners to finance energy-efficient products through their power companies with no additional cost.

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.