The Utilities and Transportation Commission has unanimously approved a multi-party settlement for a request to increase electric rates and decrease natural gas rates for Puget Sound Energy’s customers.
The three-member commission approved a 1 percent increase in electric rates, according to a press release, which will provide an increase of $20 million in electric revenues for PSE. There will be a 3.9 percent decrease in natural gas rates, and that will result in a $35 million decrease in natural gas revenue, according to the release.
Typical residential customers that use 900 kilowatt-hours will see an electric bill increase of 1.1 percent, or 96 cents a month, for an average bill of $95.67, under the rates approved by the commission.
Typical residential natural gas customers that use 64 therms monthly will see a decrease of 3.9 percent, or $2.67, for an average bill of $66.15.
PSE, based in Bellevue, provides electricity services to more than 1.1 million electric customers in Thurston, Whatcom, Skagit, Kittitas, Kitsap, Island, Pierce and King counties.
The commission received 479 comments on the PSE rate proposals, 416 of which opposed the increase, seven that were in favor and 56 who were undecided.
The settlement was reached in September and revalues PSE’s share of the Colstrip coal-fired power plants in Montana.
The settlement finds a financing mechanism for decommissioning and remediation of the older Colstrip Units 1 and 2, which the company said would be shut down no later than 2022. The settlement does not set a shutdown date for units 3 and 4, but it does accelerate the period to recover costs for those units from one ending in 2045 to ending by Dec. 31, 2027.
The settlement, according to the release, set aside $5 million for community planning for Colstrip, Montana — an amount that will be matched by the company’s shareholders. It also provides a one-time $2 million increase in weatherization assistance funds for PSE’s low income customers.
“We agree with the parties that the scope of this proceeding distinguishes it as one of the major complex litigations before the commission during the past two decades,” stated the order from the commission. “Our order today approves a historic agreement, which addresses, among other things, many challenging issues regarding the Colstrip coal-fired power plants that the commission and parties have grappled with for more than a decade, while resulting in a modest 1 percent increase in electric rates and a nearly 4 percent decrease in natural gas rates.”
