Seattle City Light Seeks 9.5% Rate Increases in Both 2027 and 2028, the Steepest Back-to-Back Rises in Recent Memory
Favour Bitrus
June 19, 2026
Picture Credit: Artem Beliaikin
Seattle residents are facing two consecutive years of significant electricity rate increases after Seattle City Light asked the City Council to approve average rate hikes of 9.5% in both 2027 and 2028, the steepest back-to-back increases the publicly owned utility has sought in recent memory.
For a typical household the impact is tangible. The first increase adds roughly $10 per month in 2027, with another $10 on top in 2028, leaving most residential customers paying approximately $240 more per year once both rounds take effect.
City Light says the increases are unavoidable. The utility points to aging infrastructure driving more frequent outages, inflation and tariffs pushing up the cost of replacement equipment, and rapidly growing electricity demand as Seattle transitions toward electric vehicles and electric heating. By 2045, City Light projects it will need to supply double the power it delivers today, a demand curve that requires sustained investment beginning now.
Some relief is built into the proposal for lower-income customers. Eligibility for the Utility Discount Program would be expanded to cover an additional 30,000 customers, with income-qualified residents receiving 60% off their bills. Discount program participants would see their bills rise by only around $4 per month under the proposed increases.
The proposal also includes a new dedicated rate class for large data centers, a pointed policy move that arrives just after the City Council voted to impose a one-year moratorium on new data center construction in Seattle. The new rate class is designed to ensure that the city’s largest electricity consumers contribute appropriately to the infrastructure costs their demand creates, rather than spreading those costs across all ratepayers.
The City Council is expected to vote on the rate increases later this summer.
