Mandatory Utility Green Power Option

Summary

Since Oregon's electricity restructuring, the state's electric utilities are required to offer at least one power option with significant renewable energy resources. Legislation (S.B. 838) enacted in June 2007 reinforced that requirement. The law requires all electric utilities to offer customers an optional green power program, where a "significant portion" of the electricity sold by a utility as green power must be generated using qualifying renewables, including wind energy, solar-thermal energy, solar-electric energy, ocean energy, geothermal energy, hydropower and/or certain forms of biomass energy. Each utility must inform customers of the sources of the electricity included in its green power program.

In 2015, H.B. 2941 expanded this requirement to include a rate option with a specific renewable energy resource, such as solar photovoltaics, if the Public Utilities Commission finds there is sufficient demand for such a rate option.