Key developments
Oregon orders PGE guardrails on data centers
The Oregon Public Utility Commission directed Portland General Electric to add new guardrails for data-center growth and to create a separate customer category so large users are billed for their own energy use. The order, tied to the 2025 POWER Act, also requires more reporting transparency and says data centers using more than 100 MW must pay a surcharge that funds low-income energy-efficiency upgrades. Regulators further said new projects can connect only when enough emissions-free electricity is available, and they created an interconnection queue for new data centers.
Why it matters
It is a concrete state-level framework for assigning data-center grid costs and limiting bill impacts on other customers.
Sources & driving stories
OREGON CUB
Oregon CUB coveragePJM moves backstop auction over data centers
PJM Interconnection said it will move its planned backstop reliability auction from March to September as it responds to rising data-center demand across its 13-state territory and Washington, D.C. The board warned states to put cost-allocation rules in place quickly, saying it is unclear who would pay if the auction happens before frameworks exist to charge new large loads instead of existing residential customers. PJM's revised plan keeps a bilateral contracting phase between September and March and folds the auction review together with new connect-and-manage rules for large loads.
Why it matters
The schedule change could shape how reliability costs tied to data-center growth are assigned across a large regional grid.
Sources & driving stories
UTILITY DIVE
Utility Dive coverageSt. Charles bans data center proposals
St. Charles, Missouri, approved an ordinance amendment on Tuesday, May 19, by a 7-1 vote that prohibits data-center proposals from further consideration. The city had already imposed a one-year moratorium last year, turning the pause into a full ban. The reporting says the action is the first data-center ban in the Midwest and the fourth in the United States.
Why it matters
It adds to a small but growing set of outright municipal bans on data-center development.
Sources & driving stories
SPECTRUM NEWS ST. LOUIS
Spectrum News St. Louis coverageWorth noting
WORTH NOTING
Little Rock weighs tiered data-center zoning
The mayor's proposal would create accessory, major, and hyperscale categories with setbacks, water-use limits, and noise monitoring ahead of a June 2 board vote.
WORTH NOTING
North Carolina bill shifts costs to hyperscalers
Draft legislation would make large data centers pay incremental grid costs and would restrict local incentives and eminent domain.
Still unclear
OPEN QUESTION
Can states allocate data-center costs before PJM's auction?
PJM says the cost split is still unclear, and the September auction could still land on existing customers without state rules.
OPEN QUESTION
Will Arkansas law constrain Little Rock's regulations?
City officials flagged Act 851 as a possible limit on how far the proposed zoning, water, and noise rules can go.