Why PSE Customers In Western Washington Are Paying So Much More

Those of us who live in Eastern Washington, specifically Chelan and Douglas counties, really have it good when it comes to the cost of electricity. Ohh I know we still complain about our electric bills each month, but when you compare it to what electricity users in Western Washington are paying, we’ve got it pretty good. 

Prices for electricity all across the country have risen and Washington states residential prices are actually lower than the national average. 

Puget Sound energy, (PSE) is the largest utility in Western Washington and they have had the highest increase in rates.  

According to seattletimes.com,
‘Many electricity customers of Puget Sound Energy felt a price shock this winter when their bills reached all-time highs.
Energy prices are up all over the country. But in the Northwest, PSE electric customers have seen the largest increases of all utilities, in some cases hundreds of dollars more than what they’ve paid in previous years.’ 

So, what is the source of this giant spike in electricity costs from PSE? 

First off, the business of being an electrical utility is just more expensive than it used to be. Supply chain inflation, an aging grid that needs to be repaired, and the increase in demand. 

Then you also have. (Brace yourself.) Climate change. I know some of us don’t want to hear those words, but something in the climate is affecting our ability to generate electricity. It’s causing hydropower generation to be more variable. We’re having heat waves and cold snaps causing prices to spike. We have wildfires impacting infrastructure. In some ways you could describe it as death by 1000 cuts, it all adds up. 

But wait, there is more.

Washington state has some very ambitious climate laws that are costing money. The idea was for these laws to make it easier and eventually cheaper for companies to operate. But the problem is, these new laws also allow utilities in Washington state to build in price increases in a radically different way than we are used to. 

For years, electricity rate increases were small incremental changes, and the state commission for the most part had no problems with that, but now the new law allows private utilities to look to the future and charge their customers for that future. Private utilities can now. Increase rates based on the cost of expansion years into the future. 

Utilities like PSE say that these rate hikes are just the cost of doing business and bringing stable electricity to the public. 

Are prices going to Eventually come down for PSE? 

Not likely. The next rate increase for PSE is coming up in February. Typically, the final increase in February will be less than what they’ve asked for, but If their projected increase is approved, PSE customers would be paying on average $28.00 more a month in 2027. 

Consumer and environmental activists are saying that with rates getting as high as they are, some type of “containment” may need to be applied, like possibly putting a rate hike cap In place. 

On the other side of the table, PSE does not want this and says if something like that is put in place then “hard choices” may have to be made. 

Keep in mind, PSE is not just in the business of generating and distributing electricity; they’re in the business of generating money. PSE is privately owned and Macquarie Infrastructure Partners (the owners) are not interested in just breaking even. 

To those of you reading this in Western Washington, I’m sorry.  

For those of us reading this in Eastern Washington, especially Chelan and Douglas counties. Just remember how lucky we are.
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