Kitsap County residents will vote this November on whether the Kitsap Public Utility District should be able to take over electricity service in the county from private utility Puget Sound Energy amid soaring electricity bills.
The PUD’s board of commissioners voted to send the issue to the ballot Tuesday after holding a listening session last week, following criticism from consumer advocates and widespread complaints across Western Washington over high energy costs.
The November vote would not require the PUD to take over electricity service but would open the door for more study on the issue and give authority to the PUD for a potential transition.
As electricity bills have risen across the country, so have community- and activist-led efforts to claw back electricity service from companies. In nearly every example, electric companies have lobbied and campaigned to hang on to their customers, often warning of high transition costs.
Puget Sound Energy is no exception. The utility opposed similar efforts in Thurston County in 2012 and Skagit, Jefferson and Island counties in 2008.
In a statement, PSE spokesperson Christina Donegan characterized the November vote as Kitsap residents “being asked to approve a blank check,” warning that the resulting service could be just as expensive.
Kitsap PUD has repeatedly stated that a passed ballot measure would simply give it the authority to provide electric service, not require it to.
In a statement, Kitsap PUD Board of Commissioners President Debra Lester called the ballot measure “one step in a much longer process, and the voters will determine whether that process continues.”
Practically, a passed ballot measure would allow the PUD to commission a feasibility study to estimate costs to rate payers, Kitsap PUD General Manager Angela Bennick has said in the past.
Kitsap PUD serves about 18,000 households, providing water, sewer and telecommunications. PSE serves 133,000 customers in the county, according to Kitsap PUD.
In 2008, Jefferson County in Washington narrowly passed a vote by 53.3% to authorize the county to provide electricity service instead of PSE. The county started providing electricity around five years later.
According to Jefferson County PUD’s website, the utility speculated that its county ballot measure passed partially because PSE spent less money fighting it than in the other counties.
According to Kitsap PUD spokesperson Kimberly Funk, the PUD’s listening session last week was attended by over 300 people and included remarks from a Washington state assistant attorney general, who spoke about PSE’s ongoing rate case.
PSE is trying to get its next set of rate increases approved by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. In February, PSE proposed an electric rate increase of 29% over three years. If approved, the average electric customer would see increases of $28 a month in 2027, $7 in 2028 and around $16 in 2029.
Since 2020, electricity prices from PSE have doubled and in the last two years have increased by 45%. The average customer who uses 800 kilowatt-hours now pays $160, up from $110, though households with larger or older homes are paying much more.
The increase is due to multiple factors including inflation, increased competition on the wholesale power market, spiking demand during cold snaps and heat waves, aging infrastructure and wildfires. PSE specifically has a long way to go to comply with the state’s climate and clean energy laws, which has kicked off a heated discussion among consumer advocates and the utility about whether customers have been adequately protected.
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