Snohomish County PUD electric rates and bills

What a kWh costs at Snohomish PUD, by period

Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County is a municipal corporation formed by a vote of county residents, and its Board of Commissioners adopts its budget and rates. Its quick facts describe it as the largest of Washington's PUDs, serving all of Snohomish County and Camano Island. In 2025 it had 349,905 residential customers, 10.5%¹ of Washington's total.

Which price applies depends on the period asked about:

All four are average revenue per kWh: what residential customers paid in total, divided by the kWh they used. Since a phase-in finished on April 1, 2024, the PUD's residential schedule has combined an energy charge per kWh with a daily base charge set by building type and main panel amperage, from small apartments to large homes. The averages above spread that base charge over every kWh, so they sit above the energy charge on the rates page, and a home that uses little electricity pays more per kWh than the average.

Cheap nationally, mid-table in Washington

Among the 177 US utilities with 100,000 or more residential customers, Snohomish County PUD was 17th lowest of 177 in 2025, against a national median of 15.07¢ per kWh, and 16.6% below the national average for public power. Two other Washington public utilities sat even lower on that list: Clark Public Utilities at 10.63¢ per kWh and Tacoma Public Utilities at 11.45¢ per kWh¹.

Inside Washington the same price looks ordinary. The PUD was the 11th highest of the 28 Washington utilities with 10,000 or more residential customers in 2025, because several smaller public utilities in the state averaged much less: PUD No 1 of Douglas County averaged 3.17¢ per kWh. Against the statewide figure, which the investor-owned utilities pull up, the PUD was 8.3% below the Washington average¹.

Clark Public Utilities (WA)10.63¢

Tacoma Public Utilities (WA)11.45¢

Snohomish County PUD (WA)12.08¢

Avista (WA)14.16¢

Pacific Power (WA)14.33¢

Seattle City Light (WA)14.74¢

Puget Sound Energy (WA)17.01¢

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. EIA-861 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh is all charges divided by kWh; it is not a tariff rate.

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Utility	average residential price (bundled customers)
Clark Public Utilities (WA)	10.63¢
Tacoma Public Utilities (WA)	11.45¢
Snohomish County PUD (WA)	12.08¢
Avista (WA)	14.16¢
Pacific Power (WA)	14.33¢
Seattle City Light (WA)	14.74¢
Puget Sound Energy (WA)	17.01¢

The split by ownership is wide. In 2025, Washington's public power utilities averaged 11.06¢ per kWh for residential customers, its cooperatives 10.68¢ per kWh and its 3 investor-owned utilities 16.24¢ per kWh¹.

Investor-owned utilities16.24¢

Electric cooperatives10.68¢

Public power (municipal, districts, state)11.06¢

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Bundled (full-service) residential revenue divided by kWh, summed over every utility of each type (EIA-861 2025). Small utilities filing the short form report no residential split and are not included.

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Type	¢/kWh	Residential customers
Investor-owned utilities	16.24¢	1,466,495
Electric cooperatives	10.68¢	150,169
Public power (municipal, districts, state)	11.06¢	1,728,859

On the supply side, the PUD's page on the Bonneville Power Administration states that it buys more electricity from the federal Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) than any other BPA utility customer. Its quick facts list BPA as the source of most of its 2025 retail power, with the rest from the PUD's own hydro projects, wind and market purchases.

The 2026 increase and the 2027 proposal

In December 2025 the commissioners approved a 2026 budget with an average electric increase for all customer classes, smaller than first proposed, effective April 1, 2026. The PUD attributed it to rising costs of materials, supplies and equipment; for homes, the residential energy charge per kWh went up.

EIA's monthly data show a small step. Over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026) the PUD's residential average was 12.35¢ per kWh, against 12.08¢ per kWh¹ for calendar 2025. In August 2026 it was 13.19¢ per kWh, +2.2% on the same month a year earlier, while Washington's statewide residential average rose 7.2%⁴ and Puget Sound Energy's +18.5%² over the same comparison. Monthly figures for 2026 are preliminary. A single summer month also reads above the 12-month figure, because homes use less then and the fixed base charge is spread over fewer kWh.

Snohomish County PUDWashington average, all providers

Source: EIA-861M monthly sales and revenue by utility; EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state. Residential revenue divided by kWh in each month, as reported to EIA's monthly survey (EIA-861M; months since January 2026 preliminary).

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Month	Snohomish County PUD (¢/kWh)	kWh per customer	Bill per customer
January 2025	11.28¢	1,295	$146.07
February 2025	11.13¢	1,334	$148.45
March 2025	11.33¢	1,183	$134.08
April 2025	11.89¢	951	$113.03
May 2025	12.67¢	769	$97.46
June 2025	12.95¢	706	$91.42
July 2025	12.98¢	770	$100.03
August 2025	12.90¢	711	$91.73
September 2025	12.94¢	725	$93.86
October 2025	12.83¢	741	$95.11
November 2025	12.21¢	774	$94.47
December 2025	11.91¢	1,292	$153.94
January 2026	11.69¢	1,254	$146.69
February 2026	11.72¢	1,066	$124.99
March 2026	11.76¢	1,234	$145.14
April 2026	12.16¢	1,041	$126.52
May 2026	12.93¢	745	$96.35
June 2026	13.18¢	733	$96.55
July 2026	13.22¢	730	$96.51
August 2026	13.19¢	732	$96.54

For 2027 the PUD's rates page says it is proposing no overall electric rate increase, with the budget and rates before the Board of Commissioners on November 17, 2026. That is a proposal until the board votes.

Going back a year, the annual average rose 5.0% from 2024 to 2025, while Washington's statewide average rose 10.7%⁵. The PUD's average bill rose less than its price, +4.0% to $113.29 a month, because use per home dipped from 946 kWh³ to 937 kWh¹.

Bills follow the heating season

Snohomish County homes use close to the state norm: 937 kWh¹ a month in 2025, against 945 kWh across Washington and 874 kWh⁶ nationally. What shapes their bills is winter heating. The Census Bureau found that 60.6% of Washington households heated mainly with electricity in 2025 (8th highest⁷ among the states), an estimate with a margin of error.

In EIA's monthly sample for the last 12 months, use per PUD home ranged from 725 kWh in September 2025 to 1,292 kWh in December 2025, and the average bill in those two months from $93.86 to $153.94. Over the full 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026) the computed average bill was $113.88 on 922 kWh² a month.

725Sep

741Oct

774Nov

1,292Dec

1,254Jan

1,066Feb

1,234Mar

1,041Apr

745May

733Jun

730Jul

732Aug

Source: EIA-861M monthly sales and revenue by utility. kWh per residential customer in each month (EIA-861M; months since January 2026 preliminary). The table adds the average bill and price for the month.

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Month	kWh per customer	Bill per customer	¢/kWh
September 2025	725	$93.86	12.94¢
October 2025	741	$95.11	12.83¢
November 2025	774	$94.47	12.21¢
December 2025	1,292	$153.94	11.91¢
January 2026	1,254	$146.69	11.69¢
February 2026	1,066	$124.99	11.72¢
March 2026	1,234	$145.14	11.76¢
April 2026	1,041	$126.52	12.16¢
May 2026	745	$96.35	12.93¢
June 2026	733	$96.55	13.18¢
July 2026	730	$96.51	13.22¢
August 2026	732	$96.54	13.19¢

Among Washington's large utilities, the PUD's 2025 average bill of $113.29 sat above Tacoma's $105.14 and Clark's $104.50, and well below Puget Sound Energy's $146.74. Seattle City Light's was lower still at $87.48, mainly because its homes used 594 kWh¹ a month. These are territory-wide averages, not prices for any town.

Meters, time-of-use and rooftop solar

The PUD is part-way through replacing its meters. EIA counted 58.9% of its residential meters as advanced meters in 2025; its Connect Up program is a multi-year project to upgrade every meter on homes and businesses, which the PUD says will allow improved rate designs. The current residential schedule on its rates page is a flat energy charge plus the base charge, and EIA found 0.0%⁸ of Washington residential customers on time-varying pricing in 2025.

Rooftop solar: the PUD reported 5,189 residential net-metered installations in 2025 with 45.0 megawatts of capacity, 14.8 per 1,000 residential customers against 19.4⁸ statewide.

Outages: major event days dominate

PUD customers averaged 343 minutes without power in 2025 counting major event days, fewer than the Washington average of 383 minutes, and 149 minutes without them, so more than half of the year's outage minutes fell on a few major event days. Customers saw 1.74 interruptions on average, against 1.45⁹ statewide (IEEE 1366 definitions). One year's totals depend on storms and are not a ranking of how a utility is run.

Where it serves, and business customers

EIA's service-territory records list the PUD in 2 counties, Island County and Snohomish County¹⁰; in both, at least one other utility also reports customers. In Island County the PUD serves Camano Island, according to its quick facts. Washington has no retail choice (0.0%¹ of residential customers bought from another supplier in 2025), so the address decides the utility, and only the PUD's own service map settles a given street.

Snohomish County PUD onlySnohomish County PUD and other utilitiesOther utilities

Source: EIA-861 2025, service territory; Census Bureau, Cartographic boundary file, counties. EIA-861 2025 service territory: 2 counties. Counts whole counties even where the utility serves only part of one; check the utility's own service-area map for an address.

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County	Other utilities reporting service
Island County	Puget Sound Energy
Snohomish County	Bonneville Power Administration

The PUD's 35,181 commercial customers paid an average of 9.90¢ per kWh in 2025, with an average bill of $578.25 a month, and its 73 industrial accounts 8.05¢ per kWh. Weighted by what each class bought, the 385,159 customers as a whole averaged 11.03¢ per kWh¹.

Households that need help with a bill can apply for federal energy assistance: Washington received $61.5 million¹² from LIHEAP for fiscal 2026, and the help paying your electric bill guide explains how it works. Electricity in Washington covers every other utility in the state.