Utility companies propose another double-digit rate hike for 2025

Local power utility companies are again seeking double-digit rate hikes that if enacted will hit customers in 2025.

Both major Oregon providers — Portland General Electric and Pacific Power — have claimed the increases are needed to combat the cost of insurance and the investment to expand electrical grids to be more resilient to extreme weather.

What that means for folks’ wallets is a 10.9% increase by PGE and 15% bump for Pacific Power. Both those rates are for residential customers.

That number is more than what PGE was seeking less than 5 months ago. Back in March the company was only asking for a 7.4%.

Regardless of the amount, the increases have led to alarm from the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, a watchdog organization.

“In normal circumstances, it should be rare for utilities to increase rates by more than 10%,” the group wrote in a statement.

The board is asking the state’s Public Utility Commission to cap those increases at 7% plus the rate of inflation, or 10% annually, whichever is lowest.

PGE’s rates have ballooned in the past two years. In January an 18% increase was enacted, and in 2023 it was a 15% bump. In total the rates have jumped more than 30% since 2022. In that same timeframe, Pacific Power has bumped rates by 25%.

And customers are already struggling to pay. According to the Citizens’ Utility Board, three months after a winter cold snap, PGE cut off power to a record number of 4,700 households in a single month due to nonpayment.

PGE serves almost 920,000 people in the Portland metro area and most of the Willamette Valley, while Pacific Power covers North Portland, Madras and Prineville.

If you want to provide feedback to the Oregon Public Utilities Commission, an online form is open through Aug. 27. Visit apps.puc.state.or.us/DocketPublicComment and select Docket: UE 435.