Seattle City Light bills are going up by $20 a month.

The Seattle City Council voted 9-0 on Tuesday, July 21, to approve back-to-back 9.5% rate increases for 2027 and 2028. The average household will pay about $10 more per month starting in January 2027, and another $10 on top of that in 2028.

For a Queen Anne apartment or a Ballard bungalow, that's $240 more per year once both hikes take effect.

Kettle flags the affordability squeeze

Councilmember Bob Kettle, who represents District 7 (Queen Anne, Magnolia, Belltown), voted yes but warned that stacking utility rate hikes on top of rising property taxes and sales taxes creates a compounding burden.

"This affordability challenge is real, and it's gonna have other aspects to it too," Kettle said at the July 21 meeting.

"We need to be thoughtful in that bigger strategic picture too, across the entire enterprise, and I think that's gonna be our challenge moving forward."

Councilmember Debora Juarez, who chairs the Parks and City Light Committee, said that even with the increases, Seattle still has one of the lowest electrical utility rates of any major U.S. city.

Why the hikes are happening

Seattle City Light cited aging infrastructure, inflation, tariffs, and supply chain disruptions. Wire and cable prices rose 93% between 2020 and 2025, according to the utility.

Transformers jumped 23%. Electrical parts and materials climbed more than 19%.

The utility is in the early stages of a $3 billion underground cable replacement program and plans to spend $4 billion on its Skagit River hydroelectric project. Its strategic plan also calls for one or two new substations at more than $200 million each.

The independent City Light Review Panel endorsed the rate increases. Panel member Leo Lam warned at a June 17 committee hearing that without the investment, "the biggest risk is we run out of power."

City Light CFO Kirsty Grainger acknowledged the burden at that same June 17 hearing, calling the $10-per-month increase significant "in the context of everything else that is getting more expensive," but said the proposal was two years in the making.

Low-income relief expanded

The rate ordinance expands the Utility Discount Program to an estimated 31,000 additional customers, according to Seattle City Light.

Discount participants will see smaller increases of about $4 per month each year.

A separate bill sponsored by Councilmember Dan Strauss expands eligibility to households earning under 60% of Area Median Income starting in January 2027.

Those households would save more than $1,000 annually through a 60% discount on electricity and a 50% discount on other utility bills.

Data centers get their own rate class

The ordinance creates a new rate class for large data centers. The council passed a moratorium on new large-scale data centers last month. Data centers consume about 5% of Seattle City Light's energy supply and are expected to demand significantly more over the next two decades.

Transit tax also headed to November ballot

At the same meeting, the council unanimously voted to place a transit sales tax increase on the November ballot. If approved, the city's transit sales tax would rise from 0.15% to 0.3% for 10 years, costing the median household an extra $29 a year.

Seattle government week ahead

Thursday, July 23, 9:30 a.m. — Public hearing on One Seattle Plan Phase 2 (Centers and Corridors) zoning legislation. Proposed changes affect neighborhood centers and corridors citywide, including Ballard, Crown Hill, and Aurora Avenue North. Check seattle.gov/council for location and any schedule updates.

Tuesday, August 4, by 8 p.m. — Washington state primary election ballot deadline. Ballots must be in a drop box by 8 p.m. or postmarked by that date. Seattle voters will decide Proposition 1, a proposed $480 million, seven-year library levy replacing the expiring $219 million 2019 levy. Primary contests include U.S. House District 7 and King County Council District 8.