Seattle-area electricity rates are set to soar
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Seattle-area customers are entering an era of steep power rate hikes, and there's little sign the pressures behind them are going away.
Why it matters: Electricity is becoming even more critical and costly as the city and state push to electrify transportation and buildings, while power-hungry data centers add new demand.
Driving the news: Seattle City Light customers will see average rate increases of 9.5% in both 2027 and 2028, followed by projected annual increases of 7% to 11% through 2032, under a strategic plan the City Council endorsed last month.
- Expect the first two increases to add about $10 a month to a typical residential bill, the city-owned utility says.
Puget Sound Energy, meanwhile, is asking state regulators for a series of residential electric rate hikes that would add about $51 a month by 2029 to a typical household's bill.
- The hikes would roll out over the next three years: $28 more a month in 2027, another $7 in 2028 and nearly $16 more in 2029.
The big picture: Washington's electricity remains relatively cheap — averaging 10.13 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2024, compared with 12.94 cents nationally — but inflation-adjusted prices in Washington and Oregon rose faster than the national average from 2019 to 2024, according to research presented by Brattle Group principal Ryan Hledik to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council this spring.
Between the lines: There's no single culprit for the higher costs, according to research co-authored by Hledik. But the usual suspects include aging transmission and distribution systems, extreme weather and wildfire costs, volatile natural gas prices and state energy policies.
- City Light says it expects energy demand to rise about 13% by 2035, driven primarily by transportation electrification and data centers.
- PSE says its proposed hikes reflect more than $3.2 billion in investments to its gas and electric systems over the next three years to maintain reliability, accommodate growing demand and meet state clean energy requirements.
The latest: Rising PSE rates have helped revive interest in public power in Kitsap County, where voters will decide in November whether to give the Public Utility District authority to provide electricity.
Reality check: Public ownership doesn't necessarily insulate customers from price hikes.
- Jefferson County made that leap in 2013, buying PSE's electric system for $103 million.
- Jefferson PUD began raising residential rates last summer, with additional hikes each year through 2028.
- Seattle embraced public power more than a century ago, partly to rein in electricity rates — and now faces steep hikes of its own.
The bottom line: For now, higher electric bills look like the new normal, so hit that light switch when you leave the room.