Change will take place in November for PSE residential customers

Electricity bills for Puget Sound Energy residential customers will drop by 3 percent while natural gas bills will rise 5 percent as a result of two actions taken by state regulators Wednesday.

The headline for this article is incorrect. The “bills” paid by electricity customers will go down by $2.50 based on 1000 KWh of monthly use, but the “rates” charged go UP more than 7%.

This is because BPA passes on a saving of about $10 per month while PSE rates go up about $7.50.

At the same time this rate increase is being approved, the WUTC also approves the change in the BPA power cost adjustment. So, PSE gets a rate increase, but the bills go down, for the time being, since they are being subsidized by BPA.