Puget Sound Energy wants to raise residential electric bills 16.75% while Microsoft gets a 12.4% cut
1.3 million PSE customers will need to budget for upcoming electric rate hikes.
PSE is asking for a +16.75% increase in 2027, +3.76% in 2028, and +8.81% in 2029. PSE is a private utility owned by a consortium of five Canadian pension funds and one Dutch pension fund. Because PSE is a monopoly, Washington's Utilities and Transportation regulates PSE by approving rate hikes.
If the state UTC commission approves the rate hike, every customer class in PSE's rate filing sees an increase. Everyone except the special contract customer, Microsoft, which is scheduled for a rate cut. On that same rate table, PSE special contract customers are getting a rate cut of -12.49%, -2.04%, and -3.06%. The UTC Board is chaired by a former Microsoft Executive, who worked for Microsoft just one day before Governor Ferguson appointed him.
Who is the special contract customer?
In 2017 Microsoft signed a special contract with PSE, which includes a one-time exit fee of $23.6M. This contract allows Microsoft to permanently source its own private power while still relying on PSE's shared utility lines. Microsoft is tapped into PSE's grid through 103 separate metered service points scattered around their Redmond headquarters. We do not know Microsoft's exact power consumption because their RPS compliance reports are redacted and hidden from the public based off a UTC Protective Order from 2016.
Two days after I posted about Microsoft's special contract, their lawyers filed a petition for intervention in the UTC's Rate Case Docket, which is a request for Microsoft to be represented as a "full party status" in the upcoming PSE rate hike. In this intervention document, Microsoft confirms that they are "the only PSE electric special contract customer."
Given that Microsoft is the only special contract customer, it is fair to say that Microsoft is a getting a power rate cut while residential customers are getting a hike. As households are facing stagnant wages and high prices brought upon by tariffs, expensive rent due to limited housing, and rising oil prices from the Iran war, a 30% increase in utility bills means many will not be able to pay.
“I compared January ‘25 to January ‘26. My bill went up 25%… And I was away from home for about three weeks in January 2026.” - Threads user
What you can do:
The public can submit feedback on the upcoming rate hike on UTC's website. While Oregon enacted legislation regulating data centers, Washington State legislators caved in to tech lobbyists and killed a bill which would have added regulations on data center consumption. By 2029, Northwest Data Centers could consume as much power as all of PSE's residential, commercial, and industrial customers combined, and Washington State residents could pay billions to foot the bill.
I will share any upcoming plans around any organized community response to these rate hikes.