Portland General Electric Cuts 2026 Outlook After Mild Quarter

The Tip Desk · October 31, 2026 · 3 min read

Adjusted earnings were $1.06 a share as the utility lowered full-year guidance to $3.18 to $3.28 after a $0.15 weather headwind.

Portland General Electric Company (POR) cut its 2026 adjusted earnings outlook after the mildest third quarter in a decade reduced customer demand and produced a $0.15 year-over-year earnings-per-share weather headwind.

The integrated energy company, which serves nearly 960,000 customers in Oregon, reported third-quarter 2026 net income of $119 million, or $1.00 a share on a GAAP basis. After adjusting for business transformation, optimization and acquisition expenses, non-GAAP net income was $125 million, or $1.06 a share, compared with $1.00 a share a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings of $1.06 a share were $0.20 below the prior guidance midpoint, which the company attributed to unfavorable weather. Weather was a $0.13 detriment in the third quarter versus a $0.02 benefit a year earlier. On a year-to-date basis, weather has produced an estimated $0.20 EPS headwind relative to normal weather.

PGE revised full-year 2026 adjusted earnings guidance to $3.18 to $3.28 a share from $3.33 to $3.53 and cut weather-adjusted load-growth guidance to 1.0% to 2.0% from 1.5% to 2.5%. Long-term targets for 3% load growth through 2030, 5% to 7% EPS growth from the 2024 adjusted EPS guidance midpoint of $3.08, and 5% to 7% dividend growth remained intact.

Industrial customer demand grew 9% year over year, down from 11% growth in the second quarter, still attributed to high-tech and data-center customers. Industrial retail energy deliveries rose 6.0% (6.4% weather-adjusted). Residential deliveries fell 8.9% and commercial 4.8%; total retail deliveries were down 3.0%, or up 0.7% weather-adjusted.

Total revenues were $971 million, up from $952 million a year earlier. Industrial retail revenue rose to $177 million from $141 million, while residential retail revenue fell to $362 million from $375 million. Wholesale revenues were $143 million as wholesale deliveries fell 13.2% to 2,379 GWh.

President and CEO Maria Pope said industrial demand grew 9% on a weather-adjusted basis and that cooler summer weather reduced residential and small-commercial demand. The company said adjusted earnings also reflected cost management, regulatory recovery and industrial load growth.

On October 1, PGE launched participation in the Extended Day-Ahead Market, estimating about $14 million in customer savings in 2027. It filed its 2027 general rate case in August, proposing an approximately 4.8% overall increase, about 3.9% for residential, with new rates taking effect July 1, 2027 if approved.

In October the company signed build-transfer agreements for Biglow, a combined 200 MW solar and 250 MW battery project with anticipated investment of about $900 million excluding AFUDC, and Salmonfly, a combined 199 MW solar and 199 MW battery project with anticipated investment of about $853 million excluding AFUDC. The capital forecast as of September 30, 2026, was $7.4 billion and excluded approximately $1.75 billion for those two projects, which were executed in October.

The board declared a quarterly common dividend of 55.125 cents a share, unchanged from the prior two declarations. Full-year 2026 assumptions include cash from operations of $950 million to $1.15 billion and capital expenditures of $1.565 billion.