What’s Behind Higher Energy Bills?
A closer look at what’s driving costs—and what we’re doing about it.
You may have noticed your energy bill is much higher than expected and you may be wondering why. The answer isn’t just one thing. It’s a combination of efforts happening behind the scenes to keep energy reliable, cleaner, and available for customers. Here’s what’s happening:
Investing in reliability
Keeping energy safe and dependable
When you flip a switch or turn on the heat, you expect it to work. Delivering that reliability takes ongoing work and significant investment.
We're:
- Upgrading aging equipment
- Inspecting power lines, poles, and natural gas pipelines
- Trimming trees to prevent outages
- Using new technologies to strengthen the system
Much of our infrastructure was built decades ago. At the same time, we’re seeing more frequent and severe weather—from storms to wildfires—putting additional strain on the system.
Over the next three years, we’re investing more than $3 billion to modernize and strengthen our energy system—helping ensure safe, reliable service now and in the future.
MAINTAINING A RELIABLE ENERGY SYSTEM
Transitioning to cleaner energy
Meeting Washington’s clean energy goals
Washington state has some of the nation’s most ambitious clean energy requirements, and we’re working to meet them. That means investing in renewable sources like large wind and solar projects, as well as supporting more localized, community-based energy solutions.
We’ve made significant progress since the passage of the Clean Energy Transformation Act in 2019.
- We’re on track to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 60% by the end of 2026
- We’ve more than doubled the amount of renewable energy in our portfolio
- We no longer serve our customers with coal-fired electricity
However, we also recognize these changes come with costs, and we’re working with policymakers to balance clean energy with affordability.
Growing energy demand
Historically, the Pacific Northwest had more power than we could consume. That’s no longer the case. Our region continues to grow—and so does energy use. More people are moving here, more electric vehicles are on the road, and homes and businesses are using more electricity each day.
According to a recent study by a leading consultant, E3, our region is short on energy today and really short by 2030. By 2030, the gap is projected to be about 9 GW, which is roughly equivalent to the amount of energy that the entire state of Oregon currently uses.
To meet this demand, we need to build more new sources of energy or purchase the energy our customers need from other suppliers, both of which contribute to rising costs.
