August 2026 Newsletter

The Ninth Northwest Regional Power Plan is here!

The NW Power and Conservation Council published the draft plan in mid-August, and the public comment period is now open through October 16. 

On August 24, we held a webinar with our initial thoughts on the draft plan and information on how you can comment on the plan online and in-person. 

We’ll be sharing a comment toolkit in early September on our 9th Power Plan webpage with our detailed comments on the plan and how you can make your voice heard.

Missed our first webinar? Watch it here:

Fall 2026 Conference in Seattle: People and Power in the Energy Transition

9 a.m. – 5 p.m. October 15, 2026

University of Washington Husky Union Building | Seattle, Washington

Come together with regional energy experts, advocates, utility leaders, business representatives, and policymakers from across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana to pause and reflect on where we are in the energy transition and how we continue to move towards a clean, affordable, and equitable energy system. 

Conference sessions will focus on: 

• Centering frontline voices in policymaking around data centers and large loads
• Reflecting on the successes and lessons from community clean energy development and implementation
• Exploring policy and regulatory solutions to integrating distributed energy resources into the grid

Get inspired by innovative ideas and connect with others who are creating community-driven solutions.

The conference will be held from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. followed by a reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Meet Your State and Regional Policy Director, Ben Otto

Hello NWEC community! I have been around the Coalition for many years, and starting in August, I stepped into the role of State and Regional Policy Director. Zach Baker left big shoes to fill, and I am excited to bring my years of experience to help lead NWEC forward. For the past few years, I have focused on regional energy markets and building support for expanding our transmission system. Based in Boise, Idaho, I also have engaged with our Public Utilities Commission to address rate cases, new large load issues, and requests to build new generation and transmission lines. 

Looking ahead, alongside the NWEC team, I have four major priorities in this role: 

• To focus on state policies to address the data center boom and our need for transparency, protection from cost shifting, and ensuring new loads use clean energy resources;  
• To protect salmon and ensure a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future, I am helping allies across the region engage in the 9th Northwest Power Plan; 
• To increase our clean energy options, I continue to engage in energy market governance decisions and encourage all utilities in the region to join the Extended Day-Ahead Market; 
• To better interconnect our region, I am collaborating broadly to improve the process to plan, site, and permit improvements to our transmission grid. 

I look forward to continuing to work with you in this new role!

Federal and Regional Updates

Data Center Workgroup

NWEC is convening a coalition of members on data centers, with the goal of collaborating on a policy resolution or guiding principles, which will be voted on by the full NWEC membership at the fall member meeting in November. We have held two workgroup meetings so far, with more than 50 organizational and individual members contributing. Thank you to all who are participating in the workgroup! We’ll share more details soon.

Washington

Energy Justice Leadership Program and Data Centers Webinar

We are excited to partner with Front and Centered and on the Energy Justice Leadership Program in Washington. This program is modeled after its successful sister program in Oregon, which is now in its fourth year and helps local leaders build skills and capacity so they can advocate for their community’s energy needs. 

Approximately 10 emerging community leaders, local organizers, and advocates will be accepted to the program, which runs from September 2026-February 2027. Participants will be compensated and will attend events once per month virtually and in Seattle and Olympia. This community-based leadership program will focus on knowledge exchange and advocacy related to the build-out of hyperscale data centers in Washington.

As part of the program, we are also collaborating with Front and Centered on a a series of webinars, “Shifting Power on Data Centers,” which aims to increase public awareness and knowledge about the impacts we are seeing from hyperscale data centers on communities of color, Indigenous peoples, and low-income Washingtonians: folks who have historically been left out of decision-making processes, despite experiencing the impacts of unjust practices and policies first and worst.

We held the first webinar, “Data Centers 101: Climate and Environmental Justice” on August 19.

Oregon

Wildfire Updates from the Wildfire Programs Advisory Council

The Wildfire Programs Advisory Council has published their July report on updates on this summer’s wildfire season so far. The annual Council report will be published in October, which will include summaries of wildfire program implementation and state recommendations.

Montana

NorthWestern’s Resource Plan Deemed Deficient by Montana PSC

On Tuesday, August 18, the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) voted to return NorthWestern Energy’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to utility planners for further work. By the 3 to 1 vote (Comm. Bukacek dissenting) the Commission determined that the NorthWestern’s IRP was deficient, after a third-party review found numerous problems with the utility’s load forecast, Demand Side Management (DSM) considerations, and the its power supply and transmission analysis. 

The consultant review echoed many of the same concerns that we raised in our assessment of the IRP. Particularly highlighted in both evaluations is the anemic energy efficiency and demand response analysis and acquisition goals, which together comprise the utility’s DSM program. We originally pointed out the fact that the market potential study NorthWestern completed in 2024 identified significant energy conservation savings that were not reflected in the IRP. Furthermore, the utility was setting overall DSM goals that were significantly lower than even the modest goals it had achieved in past years. Many of these points were echoed by the consultant it their own review, stating: 

“Despite the significant DR potential identified in the Market Potential Study, the 2026 IRP does not translate those findings into a meaningful DR planning strategy. The IRP does not include a DR acquisition plan, does not model DR as a candidate capacity resource within the portfolio analysis, and does not evaluate how DR resources might be accredited…”

NorthWestern now has 30 days to respond to the Commission decision. NWEC will continue to engage and inform our members on future developments in the IRP. Stay tuned!

Idaho

Idaho Power Large Loads Docket: Ensuring Customers Pay their Fair Share

NWEC is continuing work on Idaho Power’s Cost of Service for new large loads docket. This has two parts: Changing the cost of service method applied to all customers and the suite of methods to isolate new large load customer costs to that customer. The cost of service method should change in two ways: 1) By reclassifying generation and transmission costs from 100% demand-related to a mix of energy and demand. This shifts costs to large users and away from residential customers; and 2) By moving from monthly averages and peaks to an hourly-informed method that more accurately identifies what resources are serving each hour of use. This should reveal when the system is underused, and more load could reduce rates, and when the system is stressed, and more load needs to be flexible or pay for the new resources. 

Idaho Power is also putting forward a suite of actions to ensure new large loads, over 50 MW, pay their costs and do not increase risks. We will see the details of that proposal later in September. This includes customer contracts, financial securities, direct cost assignment, accurate rates, and other things to address the impacts of new loads upsetting the system or leaving before paying for the costs they cause.

Events

Sustainable Building Week 2026

Washington State 2026 Solar Summit

Making Energy Work Fall Symposium

NWEC in the News

BPA must balance energy needs with salmon protections (Washington State Standard)

Environmental groups urge Wash. regulators to reject PSE gas deal (RTO Insider)

Draft NW power plan lays road map to meet soaring demand (The Seattle Times)

NWEC Staff Summer Updates