PUD No 1 of Jefferson County electricity rates

It is a smaller system, serving 18,661 residential customers, which means its fixed costs are spread across a narrow base. At 13.01¢ per kilowatt-hour it is one of the cheaper places to buy electricity in Washington, 13% under the statewide average of 14.95¢.

Its customers use more electricity than the national norm, 996 kilowatt-hours a month against 871, which amplifies whatever the rate does.

A public body created by the state or county, governed by an elected or appointed board rather than by shareholders. That matters because a bill is not only the cost of generating electricity: it also carries the cost of the network, and who owns that network changes how it is paid for.

In 2024 the average PUD No 1 of Jefferson County customer went 522 minutes without electricity across 2.95 interruptions. The median across the 941 utilities that report this is 185 minutes.

That is far worse than typical, and figures at this level almost always reflect a major storm season rather than everyday performance. A single hurricane or ice storm can dominate the annual number.

646 residential customers had net-metered solar in 2024, totalling 4.92 megawatts. That works out to 34.6 installations per thousand customers, against a median of 8 across the utilities reporting it.

Adoption here is exceptionally high. That usually means some combination of a high retail rate worth displacing, strong sunshine and favourable export rules, and it tends to bring its own regulatory argument about who covers the fixed cost of the network. What exports are actually worth.