Cost-effective resources
Puget Sound Energy strives to hold down its customers' energy costs by maintaining a balanced power-supply portfolio containing a diversified mix of cost-effective resources.
Approximately one-third of the electricity PSE customers use comes from the utility's own power plants. Together, these plants have more than 2,400 megawatts of power-generating capacity. PSE purchases the rest of its power supply, mostly under long-term contracts, from a variety of other utilities, independent power producers, and energy marketers across the western United States and Canada.
Low-cost hydropower accounts for the single largest share of PSE's power portfolio. The utility owns and operates three hydropower projects , all in Western Washington. In addition, PSE buys a substantial amount of hydroelectric power, much of it from central Washington public utility districts with large Columbia River dams.
PSE also generates a substantial amount of electricity with its own thermal assets . The utility has shared ownership of four large coal-fired power plants in eastern Montana, and owns several gas-fired power plants in the Puget Sound region, as well.
In addition, clean, renewable energy resources have a prominent role in PSE's varied menu of power supplies. The utility owns and operates two large wind farms in Eastern Washington. These facilities make PSE the largest producer of renewable energy in the Pacific Northwest.