Double-digit energy bill hikes coming to Puget Sound Energy customers in 2023
BREMERTON — Double-digit increases are coming to Puget Sound Energy customers' bills each month in 2023, as the utility grapples with high energy prices, green energy mandates and aging infrastructure.
Typical electricity customers in Kitsap, as elsewhere in Puget Sound Energy's Western Washington coverage area, will see an increase on their bills of about 11.4% per month in 2023. That amounts to nearly $11, or $10.83 for the user of 831 kilowatt-hours. The average monthly bill is expected to be $105.84, under a settlement with the state's Utilities and Exchange Commission, which regulates PSE.
In the following year, another $1.71 per month is coming for the average customer, for a rising bill of $107.55.
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Meanwhile, Puget Sound Energy's natural gas customers will also see increases later this year for its gas customers in King, Kittitas, Lewis, Pierce, Snohomish, and Thurston counties. The utility is planning a $13 a month bill increase for gas customers each month, subject to approval by the UTC.
“We are making our customers aware of these increases now, to give them time to learn about their options for controlling their energy usage and how to get help paying their energy bills,” Andy Wappler, PSE senior vice president, said in a statement. “We are urging customers to take advantage of our bill assistance and energy efficiency programs to help them manage those higher costs.”
The hikes will hit those on low and fixed incomes hardest. There are 3,000 to 4,000 people in Kitsap who rely upon subsidies for energy bills through Kitsap Community Resources, according to Irmgard Davis, the nonprofit's fiscal and administration director. For some of the most vulnerable in the county, the help already only covers a fraction of total energy costs — and that doesn't account for the rate hikes coming in 2023.
"Prices go up, we have the same amount of funding," said Anthony "Tony" Ives, Kitsap Community Resources' executive director.
Only if the nonprofit receives more funding or new donations will the help increase, said Ives, who called the energy increases "substantial."
Kitsap Community Resources also manages a weatherization program that helps local residents to reduce their energy costs by installing insulation and other home improvements that reduce those bills. But Ives said a shortage of available contractors has created a backlog for that work.
PSE's rate hikes also reflect its work upgrading its power grid to increase its reliability, having invested $3.1 billion in the last four years alone to such projects. The utility says it is responding to Gov. Jay Inslee and state lawmakers who've mandated stringent clean energy goals. The state's last coal-fired power plant in Centralia will cease production in 2025 and energy will have to be free of greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. PSE still buys about half of its power from coal and natural gas sources.
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The utility encourages customers to make energy-saving adjustments, including turning down home thermostats while sleeping or away from home.
Read more from the Kitsap Sun's "Powering the Peninsula" series:
Part 2: Will Kitsap County get its own power-generating station? A look at one proposal.
Part 5: Batteries included: Power storage planned to boost electricity grids in Kitsap, elsewhere
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Puget Sound Energy customers to see double-digit bill hikes
