PSE’s rates are designed to recover costs to provide safe and reliable energy and to provide clean energy in compliance with Washington state law. PSE is an investor-owned utility that is regulated by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC). Any changes to our rates must undergo a careful review process with UTC before they go into effect. The UTC determines if the rates we charge are fair and reasonable.  

In general, you are billed for the energy you use, and the infrastructure to get it to you. Just like our roads and highways require regular maintenance and expansion, so we can have better, safer, and more secure roads and highways, we need continuous investments in the energy supply and distribution network to increase resiliency, reliability, and to connect more resources to modernize our system and meet energy demand. Learn more at pse.com/behindthescenes.

• It’s costing more to buy more power. The regional power market is increasingly constrained for a number of reasons: the retirement of the region’s coal fired generation; increasing electric demand from population growth, electric vehicle adoption and growing large load needs; and in recent years, changing climate patterns that reduce the availability of the region’s hydropower generation.  

• Transmission costs are going up. The network of transmission lines that carries electricity from power plants to your neighborhood is managed by the Bonneville Power Administration(BPA). BPA raised its rates by over 24% at the end of 2025. 

• Implementation of state clean energy laws. Washington state has some of the most ambitious clean energy laws in the nation. These require significant new investment in clean energy resources and retirement of traditional lower-cost dispatchable generation. There are also compliance costs related to Washington’s Climate Commitment Act impacting both gas and electric customers.  

• The federal landscape has changed. Recent federal changes related to clean energy tax credits and federal infrastructure investment will further exacerbate cost implications.  

• Maintaining a safe and reliable system, especially in the face of more extreme weather. Upgrades to our infrastructure to ensure safety and reliability are impacted by increasing materials and labor costs. At the same time, we have to build our system to withstand more extreme weather, including the risk of wildfire.  

Our gas and electric rates can change several times a year. Changes in rates could be the result of:  

• Multi-year rate plans – These rate plans typically span two to three years and help recover large investments made on our customers’ behalf, such as new transmission or distribution projects and upgrades to or new generation facilities, as well as ongoing costs to maintain a safe and reliable electric and gas system. This typically goes through an 11-month review process with the WUTC and includes a public comment period where the public can provide feedback.  

• Commodity and program-related filings - Throughout the year, we also have a number of commodity and program-related filings that may adjust prices up or down based on program budgets or cost fluctuations. These can reflect the cost of purchasing power or natural gas on behalf of our customers, recover costs related to things like our low-income programs or energy efficiency programs, adjustments related to taxes levied on utility services, and other Commission approved costs.

Visit our website to see proposed rate changes that are pending review and approval by the WUTC -  PSE | Pending UTC Filings 

We recognize the strain that higher bills put on families and local businesses and that our customers depend on us to provide an essential service. We take that seriously and recognize our responsibility to keep costs as low as possible.

We do that through:

• Managing our operating costs: PSE has lower operations expense per customer compared to utilities in the same region and of comparable size
• Spreading the costs of large capital projects across decades to reduce customer bill impacts
• Participating in wholesale energy markets to reduce power costs
• Expanding energy efficiency and programs that reduce system demand, offsetting the need to acquire power to serve our customers, especially when demand spikes and prices are high
• Leveraging federal tax credits when available to reduce the costs of new generation projects

To view upcoming rate change proposals, customers can visit our website. PSE also places ads in major newspaper publications with this information.

Any changes to our rates must undergo a careful review process with the UTC before they go into effect. Customers can comment to the UTC on these requested rate changes using any of the following methods:

• Fill out the online comment form
• Email comments@utc.wa.gov
• Call toll-free 1-888-333-WUTC (9882); or
• Write the UTC at: P.O Box 47250, Olympia, WA 98504-725
• Please include:
  • Company name
  • Docket number (if available)
  • Your name and address
  • Whether you support, oppose, or are undecided about the company’s proposal
  • Any questions that you have
• In certain instances, the UTC may also hold a public comment hearing on a Docket. PSE will send customers a notice with details on date, time, and how to join the hearing

We understand that bill increases are hard on local businesses and families. We’re committed to offering our customers a wide range of choices, tools, and tips to help manage energy usage and bills. Learn more about our program offerings at pse.com/gethelp.  

Public utilities have access to low-cost federal hydropower, which PSE does not.

PSE serves customers with a different mix of resources and must invest more to meet state clean energy requirements and replace retired generation.

PSE doesn’t serve large data centers, like you are seeing in many other parts of the country or reading about in the news. However, there is an impact as data centers have added competition for energy and PSE has been outbid by hyperscalers for energy resources. This drives up cost.

The primary driver of recent rate increases is the growing cost of providing energy to customers and meeting Washington state's clean energy requirements.

Since the Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) was passed in 2019, PSE's power supply costs have more than tripled, going from about $750 million per year to more than $2 billion per year. In addition to those rising power costs, we estimate that complying with CETA added approximately $820 million in costs between 2022 and 2025—that figure does not include additional investments needed to maintain reliability as coal was removed from our portfolio in compliance with state law.