This is not an April Fool’s joke: the PUD will be raising rates by 5.8% on April 1st, 2024. The rate was approved by the Snohomish County Public Utility District’s Board of Commissioners.
After initially approving a 2024 electric budget that included a prospective 3.8% revenue adjustment in December, the PUD added two percentage points to the adjustment after an extreme cold weather event in early January drove electricity market purchases higher than expected.
Rates for PUD residential electric customers will increase from the current plan of 9.6 cents per kilowatt-hour to 10.3 starting on April 1. The PUD says the typical bill for a residential customer will increase by approximately $6 per month.
The numbers shared are over current rates. But using the comparisons below, the year-over-year change appears to be a 6.5 to 10.8% increase, depending on your usage.
The charts also imply a 9.4% to 19.5% increase over the last two years, with low usage customers paying the highest percentage increases. You can take a look at their numbers yourself to see if you can make sense of them.
For PUD small business customers, the PUD claims the proposed rate increase will only affect their customer charge, resulting in an increase of approximately $10 per month to their bill.
The PUD states that the revenue adjustment is necessary to address increasing costs to critical equipment like transformers, wire and poles, labor and associated benefits, and escalating prices in the electricity market. During the cold snap in early January, due to constraints on the grid, electricity market prices climbed 800% over forecast and caused the PUD to spend an additional $40 million more than originally budgeted.
The additional revenue will also allow the PUD to continue to make crucial investments in infrastructure and technology that will increase reliability, meet growing customer electricity usage and improve customer experience.
The PUD has a variety of tools to help customers who have trouble paying their electric bill or are behind on their payments, including payment arrangements and extensions. The PUD also has comprehensive income-qualified assistance programs that offer 25% and 50% bill deductions for qualifying customers.
Along with the rate increase, the PUD will complete the final phase of its base charge implementation for its residential electric service rates on April 1.
March 17, 2024
Everett Economy