Submitted by Barron Home Services
We may have said goodbye to the federal solar tax credit, but don’t write off solar just yet. The tax credit was a great bonus—a reason to act sooner rather than later. But a solid case for solar (beyond “going green,” of course!) is built on something far more persistent: electricity costs that keep climbing, year after year, with no sign of slowing down.
If you’re a PSE customer, you’ve already felt it. Electric rates through Puget Sound Energy rose 11.5% in January 2025, followed by another 12% in January 2026. For the average household using 800 kWh per month, that’s a monthly bill that jumped from around $109 to nearly $130 in just two years—and the increases are just warming up.
PSE has now filed a three-year rate plan requesting nearly 30% in additional electricity rate increases between 2027 and 2029. If approved by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, a typical residential customer could see their bill rise an average of $28 per month in 2027, another $7 in 2028, and nearly $16 more in 2029. That means in three years, you could be seeing $600 more per year compared to today (kiro7.com; pse.com).
So what’s driving the increase? State clean energy mandates require PSE to source 80% of electricity from renewable resources by 2033. Add in aging infrastructure, surging energy demands for things like data centers and electric vehicles, rising operating costs…the list goes on. And it all goes to show this isn’t a short-term blip—it’s a long-term trend.
Many homeowners have already made smart investments—new energy-efficient heat pumps, upgraded systems, etc.—but are still facing rising bills. In most of these cases, the problem isn’t the system—it’s doing exactly what it’s designed to do. It’s the golden price of energy that the system is running on.
For those who have recently upgraded to new technologies, comparing last year’s bill to this year’s doesn’t accurately reflect your efficiency savings. A true reflection would be to ask, “What would I be paying on my old equipment at today’s rates?” That number is usually a lot higher and is the real measure of what your upgrade is saving you.
One more caveat to make your head spin?! With PSE’s tiered pricing, customers would be charged more per kilowatt-hour as usage increases. So if your household tips over the tier-one threshold—which can happen during a cold snap or a hot summer—you’ll see steeper rates, even when your overall consumption hasn’t budged.
What does all of this tell us? It’s time to take back control of your energy bill!
With solar, it’s not just about reducing today’s expenses. It’s about reducing how much of your energy future is controlled by your utility’s rate decisions. When you “go solar”, every kilowatt-hour your panels produce is one you don’t have to buy from PSE. Not this year, and not in 2029 when rates could be nearly 30% higher than they are today. By going solar, you are essentially locking in a portion of your energy costs and protecting yourself from a pricing trend that’s expected to continue heading upward.
It’s true—without the federal tax credit, the payback period is somewhat longer than it was a few years ago. But here’s the twist: the faster PSE rates rise, the more valuable each solar-generated kilowatt-hour becomes—and the sooner a system would pay for itself.
For PSE customers who’ve already invested in home efficiency and are frustrated that savings haven’t matched expectations, solar is the natural next move. It doesn’t just improve how efficiently you use energy; it changes who’s in charge of what you pay for it.
Ready to take the next step? Choose Solar by Barron—a seven-time award-winning clean energy company, backed by four generations of expertise. If you’re ready to stop absorbing rate increases and start getting ahead of them, we’d love to show you what solar could look like for your home. Knowledge is power, and it’s our goal to provide you with the best education on our industry and your home that we can—so call today! As your Pacific Northwest home and building performance experts since 1972, we stand by Our Mission: Improving Lives™.
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