Puget Sound Energy seeking 3.6% natural gas rate hike starting November

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) customers could see higher natural gas bills starting Nov. 1.

PSE is asking state regulators to approve a roughly 3.6% increase in overall natural gas rates. A typical residential bill would increase by approximately three dollars a month, from $105.71 to $109.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) must still approve the final rates.

PSE previously proposed to raise electric rates by 29% and natural gas rates by 20% over the next three years, something Washington Attorney General Nick Brown called “excessive and unreasonable.”

“We need to fight to keep Washington affordable for everyone,” Brown said in a prepared statement. “PSE should only raise prices on consumers when necessary and reasonable, and we do not think that is the case here.”

PSE cannot set its rates on its own, as they need to be approved by the WUTC. Under state law, rate increases must be “fair, just, and reasonable” and in the public interest.

PSE, a private, for-profit utility licensed by the state to operate as a monopoly in western Washington, serves 1.2 million electric customers and 900,000 natural gas customers.

Attorney General’s alternate plan

The Attorney General said customers could save hundreds of millions of dollars if the utility lowers profit margins and shifts some costs to shareholders.

“By lowering PSE’s return on equity to the actual cost of capital, asking shareholders to pay their fair share of expenses such as insurance, investor relations, and executive compensation costs, and by demanding PSE more accurately estimate future costs, the AG’s office believes PSE could save customers as much as $695 million in 2027 alone,” Brown stated. “The AG’s office will continue to identify more potential savings as the case progresses.”

If PSE’s proposed increases are approved — which would raise electric rates by 17% in January 2027 — the attorney general’s office claimed that would cost the average household about $28.31 per month. Additionally, if gas rates rise by 13% in January 2027 (PSE’s proposed increase), average households would pay an additional $13.63 per month.

Rate hikes won’t stop there. Rate increases are also expected in 2028 and 2029, meaning that by 2029, the average customer’s electric bill would have increased $50.58 a month, or $606.96 per year, and their gas bill would have increased by $21.96 a month, or $263.52 per year, compared with current rates.

“Under PSE’s proposal, they would collect an extra $3.396 billion from customers over the next three years,” Brown wrote in July. “These increases are on top of the massive rate increases PSE customers have already endured: between 2020 and 2025, PSE’s electric rates nearly doubled.”

Contributing: Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest

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