Portland General Profit Rises as Industrial Load Expands
The Oregon utility earned $68 million as demand from data centers lifted industrial load.
Portland General Electric (POR), the Oregon electric utility, reported higher second-quarter profit as high-tech and data-center customers drove industrial demand growth.
Earnings rebounded from the first quarter, when the company earned $45 million, or $0.38 a share. Adjusted net income increased sequentially to $74 million from $68 million, while adjusted earnings rose to $0.64 a share from $0.58.
Revenue increased 0.9% from a year earlier to $814 million. GAAP earnings rose to $0.59 a share from $0.56, though adjusted earnings slipped to $0.64 a share from $0.66 as adjusted net income edged up by $1 million.
Industrial load grew 11.2% from a year earlier, while residential and commercial loads were relatively flat. Retail energy deliveries increased 3.9% to 5,384 gigawatt-hours, or 2.7% after adjusting for weather, but a 37.9% decline in wholesale deliveries pulled total deliveries down 9.5%.
Portland General purchased 60% of its system load, up from 47% a year earlier, as the share supplied by company generation declined. Purchased-power and fuel expense increased to $296 million from $294 million because of a timing mismatch between power-cost recognition and revenue collection that the company expects to reverse in the second half.
Lower operating costs partly countered that pressure. Generation, transmission and distribution expense declined to $112 million, while administrative and other expense fell to $90 million. Depreciation and amortization rose to $143 million as capital investment continued.
The company reaffirmed its 2026 adjusted-earnings guidance of $3.33 to $3.53 a share and its weather-adjusted delivery-growth assumption of 1.5% to 2.5%. It lowered its forecast average construction-work-in-progress balance to $780 million from $830 million while maintaining its $1.655 billion capital-expenditure forecast.
A new large-load tariff raised prices about 30% for data centers and other new large customers beginning July 8 while lowering rates for other customers. Portland General also proposed a 4.8% overall rate increase for July 2027, partly offset by power-cost reductions expected to lower customer prices about 2.4% beginning that January, and disclosed new equity and credit arrangements to fund its capital needs.