Seattle Public Utilities Proposes New Plan to Increase Utility Rates

Seattle Public Utilities has proposed a new plan for 2018 – 2023 that will increase utility bills. SPU is asking City Council to approve the new 6-year plan that will be used to replace aging pipes, prevent sewage from spilling into the Lake Washington Ship Canal, and to keep up with rising employee wages. On average this proposed plan will increase Seattle utility bills by an average of 5.5%, which is a full percent higher than SPU’s 2015 -2020 plan had detailed. This will likely lead to a monthly utility bill for the typical Seattle homeowner of $250 by the year 2023.

The main driving factor for this new plan is that SPU is under a 2013 consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Washington State Department of Ecology to lessen the amount of wastewater pouring into the city’s waterways, particularly the Lake Washington Shipping canal during major storms that tend to hit the city in harsh winter months. This project will keep approximately 60 million gallons of polluted water out of the canal each year but will cost SPU $423 million dollars to complete, its largest project ever.

While the support for this plan is held widely by the majority of Seattleites, some customers are still concerned with the transparency of spending by SPU. SPU says that while rates will rise due to this plan, the project that the funds will be used for will help to reduce rate increases in the future. Read more at https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/rates-must-rise-again-seattle-public-utilities-tells-city-council/

Are you prepared for increasing rates? Having a submetering system in place allows you to see each tenants utility usage which can be used to ensure that the utility bill is split fairly by your tenants. If you do not currently have a submetering system in place on your multi-family building, visit us at Submeter Solutions and we can answer any questions you may have, and get you and your building set up.