Dec. 20 on The Story: By now this will sound like a broken record to utility customers: Your rates are going up next year. On Friday, Oregon regulators approved a 5.5% rate hike for residential customers of Portland General Electric, the day after approving a 9.8% residential rate hike for Pacific Power customers. That's been a fairly consistent refrain since about 2020. Both companies have increased their rates over 40% within the last four years, citing the need for infrastructure investments, the impact of wildfires, and an overall increase in the cost of purchasing and producing power. Meanwhile, consumer advocates have had to fight every step of the way to try and limit the cost burden on customers. Watch more The Story videos: http://bit.ly/watchTheStory Follow The Story on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheStoryKGW Follow The Story on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thestorykgw