Natural gas bills for PSE customers could go up for first time in years

For the first time in years, your natural gas bill could soon go up, with Puget Sound Energy pushing for an increase.

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According to The Seattle Times, PSE is aiming for a 14 percent uptick — or about $8 a month — for the average residential customer.

That’s largely driven by a trio of factors: The rising price of wholesale natural gas, an exceptionally cold winter in the Puget Sound region, and a ruptured pipeline in British Columbia in October of 2018.

That ruptured pipeline caused natural gas refineries to temporarily shut down. At the time, it halted waste management services in Seattle, Snoqualmie, Redmond, Kirkland, Federal Way, and more, while PSE customers were warned to limit their gas and electricity use.

Gas prices also briefly shot up, as Western Washington turned to Eastern Washington (supplied by a Salt Lake City pipeline) for aid.

Roughly two-thirds of Puget Sound Energy’s natural gas comes from British Columbia and Alberta.

PSE’s potential rate increase will have to go through the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, meeting Thursday to discuss the proposal. Any approved changes would go into effect on Nov. 1.

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If the proposal is given the green light, that would represent the first time rates haven’t decreased in four years. PSE — servicing roughly 750,000 customers across the region — states that an increase would still have rates under what they were in both 2013 and 2014.

A possible rise in prices comes over a month after Seattle City Council tabled a proposal to ban all natural gas from new construction. Just over half of Seattle’s single-family homes use gas, accounting for roughly a fourth of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The proposal didn’t get far, dying in committee after a sizable public outcry.

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