On May 7, 2026, the Oregon Public Utility Commission (the Oregon Commission or OPUC) issued Order No. 26-153 in Docket No. UM 2024 updating Oregon’s direct access program and ordered compliance filings.
In the Order, the Oregon Commission addressed numerous components of direct access including transition adjustments, non-bypassable costs, election windows, program caps, eligibility, aggregation limits, resource adequacy, preferential curtailment, return to cost-of-service, default supply, and more.
Key parties included the Northwest & Intermountain Power Producers Coalition (NIPPC), Calpine Energy Solutions, LLC, Alliance for Western Energy Consumers, Commission Staff, Portland General Electric Company (PGE), PacifiCorp, Citizens’ Utility Board, and NewSun Energy. Stakeholders submitted several rounds of informal comments, straw proposals, three rounds of testimony, and two briefs.
Highlights of the Order include:
- Set transition adjustment charges that will be charged for five years and updated annually.
- Declined to set a floor or ceiling for the transition adjustment charges.
- Eliminated PacifiCorp’s consumer opt-out charge and declined to let PGE create one similar to PacifiCorp’s.
- Confirmed direct access customers must pay for non-bypassable charges but held individual non-bypassable charges will be dealt with in general rate cases or individual tariff proceedings.
- Set the election window at one month for direct access program selection.
- Kept caps in place but allowed the caps to be waived if certain criteria are met.
- Allowed direct access customers to shift between direct access programs.
- Allowed the utilities to maintain different aggregation minimums for direct access load.
- Adopted a capacity backstop charge for direct access customers to pay to the utility for resource adequacy until October 1, 2029.
- For preferential curtailment:
- Set the size threshold of direct access load to be eligible at 10 MW;
- Allowed critical facilities to participate;
- Set schedule of 60 days for the utility to provide cost estimate for upgrades needed to be preferentially curtailable, 60 days for the direct access customer to execute the agreement, and one year for the utility to install the upgrades;
- Allowed a direct access customer to switch between curtailable and non-curtailable service during the election window each year if space is available;
- Allowed customers to designate a portion of their load as curtailable and a portion as non-curtailable; and
- Adopted Staff’s list of potentially curtailable events.
- Regarding default supply:
- Allowed the utilities to have different return-to-service periods;
- Required direct access customers on standard offer default supply to pay 125 percent of either Mid-C or EIM actual prices plus a demand charge or direct access customers who give notice to return to cost-of-service will only pay 100 percent of either Mid-C or EIM prices plus the demand charge; and
- Adopted a one-time administrative charge of $5,000.
- Gave direct access customers a year to opt out of direct access service or to rescind a notice provided during the calendar year prior to the order.
- Required the utilities to file a report by 12 months after the final order detailing the number of direct access customers returning to cost-of-service, each customer’s demand in aMW, and each customer’s monthly generation in MWh over the previous year.
The utilities filed compliance filings by July 7, 2026. NIPPC, AWEC, PacifiCorp, and NewSun Energy also filed Applications for Reconsideration.
Sanger Greene (Irion Sanger, Max Greene, and Ellie Hardwick) represented the Northwest & Intermountain Power Producers Coalition. The Northwest & Intermountain Power Producers Coalition represents electricity market participants in the Pacific Northwest, including independent power producers, electricity service suppliers, and transmission companies. NIPPC is committed to facilitating cost-effective electricity sales, offering consumers choices in their energy supply, and advancing fair, competitive power markets.
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