Why did your electric and gas bill go up this year in Pierce County? We asked
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- PSE raised electric rates ~12% on Jan. 1, 2026, adding about $17 for 800 kWh users
- Company cites higher wholesale power costs, drought and CCA compliance costs
- PSE eyes a 2027 rate increase, citing inflation and rising demand
Some residents are seeing a dramatic increase in their electric bills this year.
Puget Sound Energy has raised its rates by about 12%, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2026. According to a news release from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC), the average customer who uses 800 kWhs per month will see a $17 per month increase.
“The average natural gas residential customer using 64 therms a month and connected before July 25, 2021, will see an increase of about $6.50 per month,” the release said.
According to its website, the UTC regulates “the rates and services of investor-owned electric utilities, telecommunications companies, natural gas and water companies, solid waste collection companies, household-goods movers and passenger transportation companies, commercial ferries, pipeline companies, marine pilotage, and a low-level radioactive waste repository.”
The UTC does not deal with rates for broadband, cellular, cable or internet services, the website said.
This is the second year in a row that PSE has raised its rates. At the beginning of 2025, the increase was 11.5% for electric customers – a $13.08 increase for a customer using 800 kWhs per month – and 10.6% for natural gas customers, which is a $7.56 increase for a natural gas customer using 64 therms per month.
Matt Steuerwalt, PSE’s senior vice president of external affairs, told The News Tribune the company raised its rates for many reasons – but the primary one is the increased cost of doing business.
“Customers are paying more because we have to pay more to buy things to serve customers’ need,” Steuerwalt told The News Tribune.
Ann Marie Budinich lives in Puyallup near the fish hatchery. Her house is 3,400 square feet and her bill covers four adults, one toddler and two preteens who live there every other week.
Before this month, the highest bill she had ever seen was $500 in the winter. Now, her latest bill is $700, she said.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” Budinich said. “We’re fortunate enough that we could eat the $200 [difference] – maybe we don’t go out to eat a couple times a month, right? So, we have the funds to be able to make it up. But if it continues to go on, we’re not going to be able to eat it up.”
Steuerwalt told The News Tribune that exponential spikes on an electric bill most likely stem from a mix of the increased rate hikes, and the increased electricity use during winter months.
“People’s use tends to be the highest in the winter time around here too because it’s cold, so you turn on the furnace more,” Steuerwalt said. “Some of that can be the change in the price and some of that can be the change in the use, and that is just another cause behind that.”
Why are rates going up?
Steuerwalt told The News Tribune the biggest reason for the increase has to do with increased spending on PSE’s part.
“We have hydro projects, we have gas plants, we had wind farms and solar farms, all that stuff,” Steuerwalt said. “... they’re more expensive than they were in the years past.”
To top it all off, PSE is dealing with a three-year drought, which makes the company’s hydro projects more expensive.
“Washington’s biggest source of electricity is hydropower, we’re sort of unique in the nation in that way, and a lot of those projects are along the Columbia and Snake River,” Steuerwalt said.
PSE gets most of its hydro energy from the Baker River – a tributary of the Skagit River – and also buys a significant amount of power from people with resources on the Columbia River.
“In good years, there’s lots of snow and lots of water, [but lately] there’s been less water and less snow and less hydro,” Steuerwalt said. “2025 was a bad year, 2024 was a bad year, 2023 was a bad year … which means we’re getting less hydro than we expect to get, which means we need to buy more of that expensive power in the wholesale market.”
Another reason for the increase has to do with the state’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA). The CCA requires the state’s largest greenhouse gas emitters to purchase carbon allowances during state auctions, which is designed to offset that company’s emissions.
When businesses purchase the carbon allowances, the funds go into the state’s climate account, which funds projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the state’s climate resilience.
Steuerwalt said PSE gets some of its compliance credits for free, but has to buy the rest of them.
“Part of the 2026 thing was covering the cost of the sum,” Steuerwalt said.
Does Puyallup’s Public Safety Building Project play a role in increased rates?
Puyallup residents are paying some extra money on their public safety bills – but it is separate from the 2026 rate hikes.
The $114.5 million Public Safety Building project covers a 30-year lease for a building that will serve as a new home for the Puyallup Police Department. The current building – which crews constructed in 1968 – will be converted into a substation, and funds will also cover a jail remodel.
The News Tribune previously reported that the city council raised funds for the project in a variety of ways, including:
- Increasing its utility tax from 4.2% to 6%, a 1.8% increase which impacts electricity, natural gas, telephone, cable and garbage.
- Increasing its Comcast cable franchise fee from 3.4% to 5%, which impacts cable companies.
- Levying $730,000 of its banked property tax capacity, which comes out to about $3 extra per month for the owner of a $491,000 home over 30 years.
Eric Johnson, spokesperson for the City of Puyallup, told The News Tribune on Wednesday that the council raised its utility tax from 4.2% to 6% in August 2024, and the changes went into effect in January 2025. This means residents have been paying that increased fee for the past year.
“These rate increases went into effect in January 2025 and PSE, like other private utilities, passed those increases down to their customers,” Johnson wrote.
Steuerwalt confirmed to The News Tribune that the increased utility tax caused higher bills for customers at the start of 2025. He said cities are allowed to increase their utility tax, but not counties.
“When the city council puts a utility tax on – whether it’s Puyallup or anybody else – they tell us, ‘As of Jan. 1, we’re taxing all the sales. You guys, Puget, you collect that money from the customers, you give it to us,’” Steuerwalt said.
PSE then reacts by raising its rates, Steuerwalt said, so the company collects the same amount of money from consumers.
“We change the tariff at the state level, so we say: ‘Great, now Puyallup has this extra 6% charge, so everybody in Puyallup pays,’” Steuerwalt said.
Christina Donegan, PSE’s communications director, told The News Tribune in an email that utility tax increases are capped at 6%. If Puyallup wanted to raise its utility tax in the future, the city would have to get voters’ approval with a proposition.
‘How are you supposed to survive?’
Marcy Robinson lives on rural farmland in Alderton, with a Puyallup mailing address. Her latest bill was $800 for herself and her husband, and they live in a house that was built in 1938 with no air conditioning or insulation.
“We can’t get a break. I can see people not being able to make it, I can see why they’re homeless,” Robinson told The News Tribune. “I can see why there are people who live in their cars going to work every day. It’s horrible.”
The News Tribune asked how she felt when she saw the $800 bill.
“Unreal, unreal, horrible,” she answered. “How are you supposed to do it? How can you do this? How are you supposed to survive when our rent is $2,500, the utility bill is going up and up and up, the food bill is going up and up.”
Last year, Robinson’s husband was diagnosed with cancer, which put him out of work. Since then, the couple has been struggling to stay afloat – and the increasing electric bills don’t help.
“My car is falling apart, I have to drive it until the wheels fall off, basically, because there’s nothing I can do about it,” Robinson said. “My daughter is away at college, her financial aid only covers so much and [we can’t help her out] because the bills are out of control.”
Budinich said that on one hand, she feels fortunate that she and her husband are able to afford the increase.
“We’re not going to eat out as much, maybe I’m not going to see a movie, I’m not going to go shopping this week and buy some new pots and pans,” Budinich said.
On the other hand, Budinich said, she worries about future increases – especially when she and her husband retire and they are on a fixed income. She also expressed worry for those who might not be able to take the financial hit like she can.
“[For them], it could mean medicine. It could mean food. It could mean something for your child’s school,” Budinich said. “These people at PSE, why don’t they take a pay cut instead of raising our rates? I’m not talking about the everyday people, the worker bees. I’m talking about the people at the top.”
Who owns Puget Sound Energy?
The News Tribune asked Steuerwalt why PSE can’t cover increased costs by reducing higher salaries. He said part of the issue is because customers don’t pay most of the executive salaries – they mostly pay for the energy and for the salaries of maintenance workers.
“A little more of the total bill is just the energy itself – it’s the windmills and the solar farms and the gas plants and all that stuff, and the other half tends to be the poles and wires and the people who maintain all of the stuff,” Steuerwalt said.
The News Tribune asked Steuerwalt who pays for executive salaries, and he said that comes from the company’s owners. Donegan sent a follow-up email to The News Tribune clarifying the investors pay roughly 60% of executive salaries while customers pay about 40%.
Donegan said PSE’s owners include:
- Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), which is a Canadian public pension fund
- British Columbia Investment Management (BCI), another Canadian pension fund.
- Macquarie Asset Management, an Australian multinational investment banking and financial services group.
- Teachers Ontario Pension Plan, another Canadian pension fund.
- Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCO), another Canadian pension fund.
- PGGM, a pension investor in the Netherlands
“Customers cover expenses related to utility operation and management, health and retirement benefits, and the annual incentive from PSE’s goals and incentive plan,” Donegan wrote. “Investors fund PSE’s multiyear incentive plan, which is the single largest component of CEO compensation and also a significant part of compensation for other members of the executive team.”
The News Tribune asked Donegan what PSE’s multiyear incentive plan was, and she described it as “a three-year plan with performance measures and goals set by our board of directors, which consists of our owners and local leaders.”
In her email, Donegan reiterated that most of the customers’ bill goes towards resources.
“The far bigger driver of costs remains the cost to procure and supply power,” Donegan wrote.
Are there any more increases planned for 2027?
Steuerwalt confirmed the company is eyeing another increase in its rates, which would go into effect in February or March of 2027. He said PSE will file for that rate increase with the UTC “in the next month or two.”
“We don’t know exactly how much that’s going to be,” Steuerwalt said. “Part of it is going to be reflecting whatever [the UTC] thinks the power costs are going to be going forward.”
One of the biggest reasons for the upcoming increase, Steuerwalt said, is inflation and increasing demand.
“We are adding a bunch of new resources to meet customers’ growing energy consumption and to meet some state laws,” Steuerwalt said. “Part of it is infrastructure and inflation make things more expensive than they were before. It’s a pile of things, but we should expect more increases in 2027 – and we know that’s tough on customers.”
How can I reduce my bill?
Steuerwalt said the number one thing residents can do to reduce their bills is to take a look at their consumption.
“It’s things like running your dishwasher later in the evening, or maybe just changing one or two things to lower your consumption,” Steuerwalt said. “The things that use the most electricity in your home are plug-ins, space heaters, water heaters, things that are keeping something warm for a long time at a certain temperature… if you could lower your thermostat by 1 degree when you went to bed, even that would save you a little bit of money.”
He also emphasized that PSE has resources for residents who are struggling. These include budget programs and payment plans.
Residents can call the customer call center 1-888-255-7733 or visit pse.com/gethelp. PSE also has energy advisors that customers can speak to for personalized assistance.
To speak to an energy advisor, call 1-800-562-1482 or visit pse.com/en/rebates/ask-advisor-form.
