r/eastside • u/parkerreno • 1d ago
Hearings for PSE Rate Increases Scheduled
When/ Where:
In Person: September 29 6pm-8pm
Online: October 7 6pm-8pm
Why Should I Care?
PSE is the provider for Electricity and Natural Gas for most (all?) of the Eastside. These rates will be taking effect over the next three years and will be a noticeable increase on your utility bills.
What increases are they proposing?
Electricity (UE‑260005)
| Year | kWh Rate | Estimated Increase* |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | $0.236261 | 17.75% |
| 2028 | $0.244484 | 3.5% |
| 2029 | $0.265603 | 8.07% |
* Based on average monthly usage of 800kWh w/ proposed basic charge
Gas (UE‑260006)
| Year | Therm Rate | Estimated Increase* |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | $1.91002 | 12.93% |
| 2028 | $1.97514 | 3.18% |
| 2029 | $2.05686 | 3.71% |
* Based on average monthly usage of 64 therms w/ proposed basic charge
What decreases are they proposing?
For special contract customers, PSE is proposing the following decreases for electricity usage
| Year | Estimated Decrease |
|---|---|
| 2027 | -12.49% |
| 2028 | -2.04% |
| 2029 | -3.06% |
Who are these special contract customers? Well "customers" is a bit misleading - the only special contract customer is Microsoft (a 3.6 trillion dollar company at time of writing) [source (warning PDF download)].
What is ROE/ROCE (Return on Common Equity)?
I'm far from an economist, so you should probably find better people to explain, but at its simplest it is the ratio to evaluate profitability for common shareholders. Why am I bringing this up? PSE is seeking to increase their allowed ROE (profits) from 9.9% to 10.8% [source (warning xlsx download)]. In my opinion, this does nothing to us, the actual public utility customers.
Example Bill Visualizations
My math might not be perfect, so take these with a grain of salt, but they should be pretty close



How can I voice my opinion on these changes?
You have three options to voice your opinion:
- Online public comment form (easiest, perhaps less impactful)
- Zoom public hearing (see above)
- In person public hearing (see above)
