Seattle electric customers may notice higher bills this month

When Seattle residents open their electric bill for January, they could be paying about $9 more than expected. That's how much Seattle City Light estimates the average resident will pay under the most recent rate hike.

Seattle City Light prepared customers for the rate hike last October. The City Council also approved a 4.5% increase to the base rate in 2022 that is just now coming online (read more about that below).

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"We understand that rate increases are never welcome. But with atypical weather and rising costs over the last year, they are necessary so we can continue delivering safe, reliable power," City Light said in a blog post.

A total of 1% of the recent rate hike is actually coming from the Bonneville Power Administration, which City Light is passing on to customers. The majority of the rate hike is for higher wholesale power costs, which City Light blames on "unfavorable weather and market price conditions."

A Seattle residential customer can expect about $9 to be tacked on to their bill each month, according to the utility. People using the Utility Discount Program will pay about $4 more each month.

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In 2022, the Seattle City Council began a series of annual rate increases to the city's electric utility. According to that plan, a 4.5% rate increase would kick in at the start of 2023 and 2024. After that, a 3% rate increase would occur at the start of the year through 2028.

According to a September 2022 City Light blog post, the 4.5% increase is actually an average across all customer groups. Residential customers alone were actually slated for a 5.7% increase. City Light expected these increases to be less than inflation, and at the time estimated that residential customers would experience a $4 increase on their 2023 bills ($2 for those on the Utility Discount Program).