Featured profiles
Profiled Oregon utilities
The three IOUs as the reference, plus the three PUD and co-op pages we have published profiles for.
Investor-owned · IOU
Portland General Electric
PGE · Investor-owned
Portland metro and northwest Oregon
Regulated by OPUC, rates set through general rate cases.
Investor-owned · IOU
Pacific Power
PacifiCorp · Investor-owned
Central + southeast Oregon and the south coast
Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary, six-state footprint.
Investor-owned · IOU
Idaho Power
Eastern OR border · Investor-owned
Malheur, Baker and other eastern border counties
Mostly Idaho utility, OR sliver regulated by OPUC.
People's Utility District
Tillamook PUD
People's Utility District
Tillamook County coast
Voter-elected board, BPA preference power.
People's Utility District
Central Lincoln PUD
Newport office · coastal PUD
Lincoln, Lane, Douglas, Coos coastal areas
Newport HQ open for in-person service.
Member co-op
Consumers Power Inc
Lebanon office · rural co-op
Linn, Benton, Polk, Marion counties
Member-owned, Lebanon HQ open for walk-ins.
Detailed sub-pages exist for Tillamook PUD, Central Lincoln PUD and Consumers Power. Full profiles for PGE, Pacific Power and Idaho Power are on the way, the cards above link to the phone-line directory and the walk-in office hub.
Why your address matters
Why Oregon has three utility models
Oregon legalised PUDs in 1930 and ran a long parallel build-out of public, member and investor-owned electricity. The boundary between them is set by state law, you cannot switch between them.
3 IOUs · Regulated
Private, regulated by the OPUC, with rates set through general rate cases that take a year or more to resolve.
- ✓Outage response 24/7, dedicated rate options including time-of-use.
- !Typically the highest residential rates in the state.
~1.6M Oregon meters across PGE, Pacific Power and Idaho Power.
PUDs · Voter-controlled
Created under Oregon's 1930 People's Utility District law. Boards are elected by district voters, who are also the ratepayers.
- ✓BPA preference power keeps wholesale costs low.
- ✓Board meetings are open, agendas are public.
EWEB, Tillamook PUD, Central Lincoln, Emerald PUD, Northern Wasco and more.
18 co-ops · Member-owned
Rural electric cooperatives, every customer is a voting member. Margin is retired back to members as capital credits over time.
- ✓Most also buy BPA preference power.
- ✓Local service, long lines per meter in remote terrain.
Consumers Power, Lane Electric, Blachly-Lane, Salem Electric, Douglas Electric and more.
Other Oregon utilities
Listed for reference, not yet profiled on this site. The full PUD count includes ten or so smaller municipal-style districts not enumerated below.
Other PUDs and municipal utilities (10 of ~31)
- •Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) · Lane County, ~93K customers · largest OR muni.
- •Emerald PUD · Lane County, ~21K customers.
- •Northern Wasco County PUD · The Dalles, ~13K customers.
- •Clatskanie PUD · Columbia County, ~4K customers.
- •Columbia River PUD · St Helens, ~19K customers.
- •Springfield Utility Board · Lane County, ~34K customers.
- •McMinnville Water & Light · Yamhill County, ~14K customers.
- •Canby Utility · Clackamas County, ~5K customers.
- •Hood River Electric Co-op-affiliated PUD · Hood River County.
- •Forest Grove Light & Power · Washington County, ~5K customers.
EWEB, while technically a municipal utility (the Eugene Water & Electric Board), is the largest consumer-owned utility in Oregon and is often grouped with the PUDs for policy purposes.
Other rural electric cooperatives (17 of 18)
- •Lane Electric Cooperative · Eugene area · ~12K members.
- •Blachly-Lane Electric Cooperative · west Lane County · ~4K members.
- •Salem Electric · West Salem · ~21K members.
- •Douglas Electric Cooperative · Roseburg · ~11K members.
- •Coos-Curry Electric Cooperative · south coast · ~14K members.
- •Wasco Electric Cooperative · north-central OR · ~3K members.
- •Surprise Valley Electrification · far southeast OR · ~3K members.
- •Harney Electric Cooperative · Burns · ~3K members.
- •Umatilla Electric Cooperative · Hermiston · ~13K members.
- •Columbia Power Cooperative · Monument · ~1.5K members.
- •Midstate Electric Cooperative · La Pine, central OR · ~21K members.
- •Central Electric Cooperative · Redmond · ~36K members.
- •Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative · Baker City · ~32K members.
- •Clearwater Power · north-central · part-OR co-op.
- •West Oregon Electric Cooperative · Vernonia · ~4K members.
- •Hood River Electric Cooperative · Hood River · ~4K members.
- •Coastal Electric Cooperative · coastal central · small co-op.
Oregon's 18 rural cooperatives jointly own PNGC Power, a generation-and-transmission cooperative that aggregates BPA contracts and merchant renewables for member load.
Quick answers
Common questions Oregon households ask about their utility.
Look at the top of your last bill. PGE covers Portland metro and most of northwest Oregon. Pacific Power covers central and southeast Oregon plus the south coast. Idaho Power covers the far eastern border counties. Everywhere else is served by a PUD (Tillamook, Central Lincoln, EWEB, Emerald, Northern Wasco, Clatskanie, Columbia River and more) or one of the 18 rural cooperatives (Consumers Power, Lane Electric, Blachly-Lane, Salem Electric, Douglas Electric and others). The boundary is set by state law, you cannot switch between them.
No, not as a residential customer. Oregon's "direct access" program is open only to large commercial and industrial customers above strict load thresholds, with annual enrollment windows. The IOUs (PGE, Pacific Power, Idaho Power), PUDs and co-ops each set their own residential rates. Natural gas transportation is open to large customers, but residential gas is bundled by NW Natural, Avista or Cascade Natural Gas.
Two reasons. First, public and member utilities qualify for BPA preference power, low-cost federal hydro from the Bonneville system. Second, they have no shareholder dividends to pay, excess margin is either reinvested or retired back to members as capital credits. The IOUs have to buy on the wholesale market or build their own generation and earn a regulated return on it.
Always your delivery utility, 24/7. PGE outage: 1-800-544-1795. Pacific Power outage: 1-877-508-5088. Idaho Power outage: 1-800-488-4151. Tillamook PUD: (503) 842-2535. Central Lincoln PUD: (541) 265-3211. Consumers Power: (541) 258-3211. Other PUDs and co-ops publish their outage line on the bill and the website.
The Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC), a three-member body appointed by the governor, regulates the IOUs only: rates, reliability, customer protections, integrated resource plans, and the small slice of Idaho Power's territory inside Oregon. The PUDs answer to their elected boards. The 18 co-ops answer to their member-elected boards. OPUC has no authority over PUD or co-op rates.
Keep exploring OR energy
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Same playbook, different utility. Pick another deregulated state to compare utilities, suppliers and switching rules.
