FACT CHECK: Attorney General’s rate case release misrepresents key facts about PSE’s rate proposal

Bellevue, Washington (30-07-2026) The Washington Attorney General's press release issued July 30 contains several inaccurate statements about what costs are included in customer rates and what is driving PSE's pending rate request.

False Claim: Customers pay for PSE's investor relations activities.
Fact: PSE does not have investor relations as a privately held company. There is no charge to customers for that.

False Claim: Customers pay for PSE's state lobbying efforts.
Fact: We do not spend customer money to lobby Washington state government.

False Claim: Customers are paying for PSE to "advertise itself."
Fact: Customers do not pay for corporate marketing to promote the company. Customers pay the marketing costs of programs to get them to conserve energy, for bill assistance and renewable energy programs, and other Commission-mandated customer programs, as allowed by Commission rules.

Misleading Claim: Customers are paying the CEO's salary and executive compensation.
Fact: The Attorney General's release creates the false impression that customers fund CEO and executive compensation. Only a fraction of executive compensation associated with utility operations and management is included in rates. PSE’s investors fund PSE’s executive incentive plan, which is the single largest component of compensation for PSE’s CEO and members of the executive team.

What's really driving costs
"We know that customers are unhappy about higher bills,” said Christina Donegan, director of Communications for Puget Sound Energy. “Affordability is important to us too and we are committed to controlling costs while continuing to make necessary investments in our system to provide the safe and reliable energy our customers depend on.”

"Customers deserve factual information about what is driving rates,” Donegan added. “Claims that these rate requests are primarily about increasing profits ignore the facts."

Key facts include:

• The cost of providing energy to customers has increased dramatically since the state legislature passed the Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) in 2019, which requires PSE to be 100% carbon neutral starting in 2030.
  
  
• Since then, PSE's power supply costs have more than tripled, increasing from approximately $750 million annually to more than $2 billion annually, or an increase of nearly $950 per customer.
  
  
• PSE calculates that compliance with CETA alone has added approximately $820 million in costs over the past four years alone, not including additional investments required to maintain reliability as coal-fired generation was retired in accordance with state law.
  
  
• Over the next three years, PSE plans to invest more than $3 billion to modernize and strengthen its gas and electric systems, including investments to address more extreme weather, growing wildfire risk, and the energy needs of a growing region.


• PSE’s capital spending plan for all new generation resources being built to meet customer demand and comply with state clean energy targets amounts to more than $3.6 billion. Recovery of those project costs will be spread over decades.
  
  

As with every utility rate case, PSE's proposal will be thoroughly reviewed by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, which will evaluate evidence submitted by all parties and determine what rates are fair, just and reasonable for customers.

Media Contact:

888-831-7250, psenewsroom@pse.com