The City of La Pine was involved in discussions regarding a potential private data center that had been proposed for a vacant industrial site in La Pine served by Midstate Electric Cooperative. Although the project was not approved by the La Pine City Council and will not be moving forward, Midstate recognizes there continues to be community interest and questions regarding the proposal and its potential impacts. To help provide clarity and transparency, the following Frequently Asked Questions are available as a resource for our members and communities.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
No. Any new large loads are responsible for the costs of any system upgrades needed to serve its operations. The Midstate membership would not assume those costs.
No. While there are many things that can and occasionally do cause temporary power outages to our system, the addition of this proposed facility is not one of them. Midstate Electric has a diverse energy portfolio, and the capacity of our power grid exceeds the load placed on it, even when factoring in the proposed project's 20 MWh electricity usage. The increase in load would be significant, but Midstate still has ample capacity to meet future demand.
No. There are zero costs related to this project or the ongoing servicing of the site that would be passed through to Midstate members. The project developers would receive no incentives or subsidies from Midstate Electric Cooperative in exchange for siting their project within our service area.
No. The data center would have to pay its own way at every step. This includes but is not limited to all feasibility studies, infrastructure improvements, equipment upgrades, and electricity usage. Further, they would likely pay a higher rate for their electricity than other members.
The proposed data center would use 20 MWh of electricity. This represents a fraction of Midstate Electric’s total capacity and would be more than adequately serviced with no risk of disruption (i.e. blackouts/brownouts) to Midstate members.
Yes. Midstate has immediate plans to add capacity.
Prineville is home to numerous data centers, including Apple, Google, and Meta (Facebook). Central Oregon is an attractive destination because of its climate, which helps with cooling efficiency, availability of land, and our power infrastructure. This would be the first data center in La Pine, but it will operate on a much smaller scale than the Prineville data centers. For comparison, the existing Meta data center in Prineville, which is one of the largest data centers in the U.S., currently uses more than 1.37 million MWh of electricity per year.
No. As detailed in the Additional Service Obligation Information section at the bottom of this FAQ, we do not have the authority to deny service with the exception of circumstances such as capacity and safety issues, unpaid bills, inadequate infrastructure, or failure to comply. Ultimately, this is not our decision to make. The La Pine City Council has the final say on whether this project moves forward.
Neither. Our job is to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective power to our members without exception. Our neutral position is rooted in the fact that we are obligated to provide power to any and all service locations in our territory. That could be a new single-family home, a new commercial building, a new apartment complex, or even a data center. As long as they are approved and permitted at the City or County level, each one is treated equally, fairly, and objectively in our eyes.
Members are encouraged to reach out to us directly with questions. We have set up a webform for members to submit their questions about the data center project.
The City of La Pine is a member of Midstate Electric and receives franchise fee revenues collected through member billings. However, the cooperative operates independently, and the city does not participate in its governance or business operations.
No. In Oregon, electric cooperatives are not regulated by the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC). The PUC primarily regulates investor-owned utilities such as Portland General Electric and PacificCorp. Midstate Electric is governed by a nine-member board of directors elected by the cooperative membership.
Additional Service Obligation Information
The Territory Allocation Law (ORS 785.400 to 758.475) gives the Oregon Public Utility Commission the authority to create exclusive service territories for electric and gas utilities. The Commission has allocated an exclusive service territory to Midstate Electric Cooperative. Once territory is allocated to a particular utility, ORS 758.450(2) strictly prohibits any other person from providing utility service in that territory. It has long been recognized that an exclusive right to serve in a territory necessarily carries with it an obligation to serve all customers in that territory. As early as 1987, the Oregon Attorney General issued a formal opinion on this issue that stated in part:
…[A] territorial allocation implies a duty to serve the territory. If a person to whom territory has been allocated did not have a duty to serve, then customers within that territory would be without service if the utility refused or discontinued service, because no other person lawfully could serve within that territory. Therefore, any person that has received a territorial allocation, even a cooperative that serves only its members, has a duty to serve all customers, including new customers, within the allocated territory. (Opinion No. OP-6139, July 27, 1987)
There are only a few narrow exceptions to Midstate’s obligation to serve, including a shortage of energy, safety considerations, and a customer’s failure to pay or otherwise comply with Midstate policies.
Finally, as an electric cooperative, Midstate’s Board of Directors is obligated to establish and maintain retail electric rates in good faith and in a manner that is non-discriminatory among similarly situated members. Retail rates for each member class must also be sufficient to recover the costs of service to such member class.
Contact Us
If you have additional questions about Midstate’s role in the proposed data center, please fill out the webform below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.