Portland General Electric Company was founded as Willamette Electric Company in 1888 by Edward L. Eastham and Parker F. Morey. Beginning with a hydro-electric generating plant on Willamette Falls, Station A, the company grew quickly. It acquired many of the other electrical interests in the Oregon City area and in 1892 it was reorganized as Portland General Electric. Between 1892 and 1906, PGE acquired many other small electrical utilities and electric railroads, growing its holdings rapidly.

In 1906, the company once again reorganized itself as Portland Railway Light & Power Company. It operated several electric streetcar lines, including an extensive system in the city of Portland. Ridership fell in the late 1920s and the company again reorganized itself into Portland Electric Power Company (PEPCO), with two subsidiaries: Portland General Electric as the electric utility and Portland Traction Company as the railroad. PEPCO went into bankruptcy in 1939, ultimately selling all of its railroad holdings to the Portland Transit Company in 1946 and reorganizing one final time into Portland General Electric (PGE) in 1948. It was bought by Enron in 1997 but as of 2006 PGE is independent.

PGE built many power generating plants in both Oregon and Washington. These plants were primarily hydro-electric, but they also built several steam plants, a gas plants, a coal-fired plant and a nuclear power plant