Rantz: Amidst record heat wave, Puget Sound Energy asks Seattle area customers to use less energy

In the middle of a record Puget Sound heatwave, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is again asking customers in the Seattle area to preserve energy between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. tonight to “play a part in keeping our community’s energy supply stable and reliable.” Their ask comes as Democrats are barreling towards a ban on natural gas.

“Customers like myself, an old man living in an old house that does not have AC, we’re supposed to have a cold meal, let those dirty clothes continue to pile up, and swelter because they want to go green,” a listener from Kirkland texted to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

The PSE ask comes as temperatures have hit the low 90s across Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett, causing customers to turn on their air conditioners. Previously, PSE asked customers to use less heat during a historic cold snap.

More from Jason Rantz: The used EV market is collapsing in Seattle, nationwide. So why do Democrats keep forcing them on us?

Why is Puget Sound Energy asking Seattle area customers to use less energy?

One recommendation from PSE is to turn off the television, radio or computer and focus on other ways to entertain yourself.

“Instead of watching TV or using electronics that need to be plugged in, read a book, play a board game, or spend quality time with your household,” a PSE email explained to customers.

Another customer from Puyallup sent “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH an email from PSE that included a graph of his energy usage compared to his neighbors. The email asked the customer if he could “use less energy than your neighbors during the next Flex event?” He was not pleased.

“I find it a little bit chilling. PSE manipulating their customers instead of serving them pretty obviously ties back to Inslee and Ferguson, et al, and their degrowth agenda,” he told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “And because PSE is a state-sponsored monopoly that has chosen to serve only their masters in Olympia, the PSE customers, who just want to use their HVAC systems, have no recourse. We are at their mercy.”

In the middle of a Puget Sound heatwave, Puget Sound Energy is asking customers to preserve energy between 4pm and 8pm tonight to “play a part in keeping our community’s energy supply stable and reliable.”

These same folks are pushing to ban natural gas within a few years. pic.twitter.com/wRUORspki8

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) July 8, 2024

Democrats ask us to use less energy while pushing a ban on natural gas

The PSE ask of its Seattle area customers to unplug and preserve energy during the heatwave comes as Democrats in Olympia continue to push a ban on natural gas and mandate new car sales transition to electric vehicles alone.

But the state is nowhere near ready for this transition, even if they came in baby steps.

Led by Brian Heywood of Lets Go Washington, Initiative 2066 will be on the November ballot. It undoes a Democrat bill that allowed for the first steps of a ban on natural gas.

The Puget Sound region is expected to stay in the 90s through Tuesday evening before ultimately cooling to the low 80s to upper 70s by the end of the week.

More from Jason Rantz: Innovative tips to stay cool during Seattle heat wave

Listen to “The Jason Rantz Show” on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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