Seattle City Light customers could see rate hikes if rate hike proposal is approved

Seattle City Light customers could see another rate increase come January.

The utility is proposing a 5.4% increase for 2025 and 2026 and beyond that another 5% increase.

The CFO, Kirsty Grainger, said the increases are coming from an increase in the price of electricity and demand.

“That increase is coming from electrification, electrification of cars, fleet vehicles, buses and then also as folks are transitioning away from fossil fuels to heat their homes and starting to install heat pumps and using electricity as their clean heating source,” Grainger said. “Our costs are increasing and a lot of that is coming from the cost of the actual electricity itself, power is more expensive now than it was two years ago and city light needs more power to meet the demand that we’re seeing.”

She also explained that current resources, like hydroelectric power, just aren’t going to cut it alone in the years to come.

“Nobody likes rate increases and nobody likes power outages either but we’re thinking about how are we going to serve this demand going forward,” she said.

The rate increases have not been finalized and still need to be presented to, voted on and approved by the city council.