A “few percent” power increase doesn’t sound like much—until you zoom out. Starting April 1, 2026, many Pacific Power (PacifiCorp) customers in Oregon are seeing another residential increase—about 2.9% for most customers, and about 4.1% in Albany (where undergrounding costs are being recovered).
Here’s the real problem: it isn’t just one increase—it’s the stacking effect. When rate hikes happen year after year, the compounding adds up fast. A bill that used to feel “normal” becomes the new baseline, and every “small” percent from there lands on a bigger number. Oregon regulators and the utility both point to rising and shifting costs—fuel and purchased power, grid investments, and wildfire-related spending—driving continued upward pressure.
To make that tangible: if your household averaged $100/month back in 2022, multiple rounds of increases have pushed that to roughly $156 today, depending on how your specific rates changed over time. And if rates keep rising at something like ~3–4% per year, a $156/month bill today becomes about $169/month in 2028 (just a few short years). Over a long horizon, that “small” annual increase can translate into tens of thousands of dollars paid to the utility—money you’ll never get back. (Exact totals depend on the rate of increase and your usage.)
So what’s the alternative? Produce more of your own power at home—and use Oregon’s net metering to bank extra daytime production as credits for later. That’s what rooftop solar is built to do: reduce your exposure to future rate hikes by offsetting the energy you would have purchased at increasingly higher prices. If you want a clear plan—not guesswork—Sunshine Solar will design a system around your goals and usage, and show you what “taking control” looks like on paper.
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