Customers of Washington’s largest utility—Puget Sound Energy (PSE)—are about to see big increases to their energy bills. This news comes off the heels of a long summer of climate impacts, rising temperatures and smoke events. High cost-of-living is already top of mind for many of PSE’s 1.24 million electric and over 800,000 gas customers, but the utility’s upcoming investments won’t do much discounting. Instead of investing in cheap, renewable energy, PSE is proposing to invest more in dirty fossil fuels – keeping customers on an expensive, dying system. Keep reading below to see how you can get involved.

Typically all utility rates increase slightly over time, due to investments in necessary safety improvements, or rising fuel costs. What makes this moment unique, is not just the amount PSE proposes to increase customer rates, but also in what it intends to invest. PSE has proposed to increase customer rates by over $1.5 billion over the next three years – a 29% increase to electric rates and 20% increase to gas rates. There are some good investments in PSE’s proposal, but a whole lot of bad. PSE’s proposal includes investing $600 million to convert the defunct coal-fired Centralia plant to gas in a 17-year contract and over $860 million to maintain and expand its pipeline gas system.  

Notably, private utilities such as PSE are actually incentivized to keep building out costly fossil fuel infrastructure in order to earn a high return for their shareholders. This means their customers bear the brunt of higher and higher rates. These costly investments become even more offensive when you take into account Washington’s clean energy laws. Washington’s 100% clean electricity law (CETA) and cap-and-invest law (the Climate Commitment Act, or CCA) are two examples of state laws requiring all big polluters – including utilities – to decrease their emissions and invest in clean energy. 

One major issue in all of this is that PSE is already failing to meet its 100% clean electricity (CETA) requirements. PSE desperately needs to invest in more clean electricity, and state laws are clear that clean energy should be acquired first. Instead, PSE is proposing to invest in very expensive gas plants, instead of cheaper and cleaner alternatives. 

PSE is also failing to reduce emissions as required by the CCA (Climate Commitment Act). Utilities are major polluters and there are many accessible and innovative strategies and tools available to reduce emissions and increase energy reliability like transitioning customers to heat pumps, investing in non-pipeline alternatives, and offering energy efficiency programs. Yet PSE has chosen to comply mainly through maintaining its gas system, paying for its costly emissions, and putting customers on the hook for increased rates.

If all this sounds bad, there’s a glimmer of hope. Climate Solutions and a number of our coalition partners are teamed up to fight for our clean energy future and protect customers from unnecessary rate increases. Together with NW Energy Coalition, Front and Centered, Sierra Club, and Washington Conservation Action, represented by Earthjustice, we are asking the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to: 

• Remove hundreds of millions of dollars in counterproductive fossil fuel equipment costs from customer rates, 
• Make PSE pay their fair share of Climate Commitment Act compliance costs driven by its fossil fuel reliance (which it currently pushes onto its customers), 
• Reject PSE’s $3.4 million proposal to conduct hydrogen blending experiments,  at their customer’s expense, 
• Require PSE to better consider non-pipes alternatives (NPAs) that can save money, reduce emissions, and avoid gas pipeline investments that will burden customers for decades, 
• Direct PSE to adopt a cost-saving NPA program to offer electrification incentives for customers whose gas service lines PSE plans to replace, and 
• Direct PSE to support customers with bill protection, installation assistance, and education and prohibit predatory fees charged to customers who fall behind on their bills.

Now – more than ever – we need utilities to invest in our clean energy future, protect customers, and lower costs and pollution.

Are you a PSE gas and electricity customer?

There are two public hearings scheduled (and we have a testimony guide with everything you need to know to testify here, which also includes sample language to communicate to your members/friends about this issue).