Online Open House
Draft Clean Energy Implementation Plan
Welcome
Join us on the path to 100% clean electricity
This Clean Energy Implementation Plan (CEIP) is a four-year roadmap that:
We want to hear from you
This online open house summarizes important pieces of the draft CEIP. To request materials in another form or language, send a message to ceip@pse.com.
We will continue to accept and review comments on the draft CEIP, but our ability to include your feedback in the final CEIP becomes less likely as we approach the Dec. 17 filing date.
PSE is committed to acting on climate change and aspires to become a beyond net zero carbon energy company by 2045. The CEIP is a key piece of our strategy to make this goal happen.
Background
The Clean Energy Implementation Plan (CEIP) is a four-year roadmap that will guide PSE’s clean electricity investments for the years 2022-2025. It is the first of many plans that will get us to our goal of 100% clean electricity by 2045 and help ensure all customers benefit from the clean electricity transition.
About Puget Sound Energy
PSE is Washington State’s largest utility and serves electricity to 1.1 million customers in eight counties of the Puget Sound region. We provide safe, reliable, affordable energy to our customers and help make our communities better places to live and work.
PSE is committed to working with customers to act on climate change and has an aspirational goal of becoming a
beyond net zero carbon energy company by 2045.
Transitioning to clean energy
The Clean Energy Transformation Act sets Washington on a path to clean electricity, requiring utilities to serve coal-free electricity by the end of 2025, carbon-neutral electricity by 2030, and 100% clean electricity by 2045.
Clean energy milestones
2025
Coal-free electricity
2030
Carbon-neutral electric system
2045
100% clean electricity
Electricity today
The electricity PSE supplies is generated from a mix of resources. Today, more than 30% of PSE’s electric energy supply comes from clean sources like wind and hydroelectric facilities that don’t emit greenhouse gases.
PSE has been an early leader in addressing climate change, making significant investments in renewable resources and energy efficiency for homes and businesses. Now, we are on a path to meet the current and future needs of our customers and to reach Washington’s ambitious clean energy transformation milestones.
PSE’s four-year CEIP maps out an acceleration of clean electricity strategies in PSE’s portfolio, as well as progress toward these milestones based on community input and the needs and strategies identified in other long-range planning documents.
Equity in clean electricity
As we work to create a new, clean electricity future and address climate change, we must do so in a way that ensures all our customers, especially vulnerable and highly impacted communities who shoulder an outsized share of the climate burden, have a voice in and benefit from the transition to clean electricity.
In this work, we embrace the principles of energy equity by addressing accessibility, affordability and accountability.
In 2021, PSE convened our first Equity Advisory Group (EAG) to broaden engagement with communities we serve, representing perspectives from low-income communities and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
Engaging Customers
Improving our communities while fighting climate change
The transition to clean electricity creates opportunities to improve our communities through benefits like cleaner air, better public health, new jobs, or different ways for customers to get their electricity.
As PSE thinks about clean energy, we must accelerate equity in the transition. Part of accelerating equity is identifying specific communities or customers who disproportionately share a more significant burden.
We’re designing our CEIP to address the challenges faced by vulnerable and highly impacted communities, who are most at risk to the effects of climate change. Knowing the geographic locations and factors shaping these communities will help us identify gaps in services provided, design programs that meet the needs of these communities, and help us distribute benefits more equitably.
PSE is committed to a public participation process that strengthens community ties and creates solutions that reflect those values.
Who we're seeking to involve
How customers and stakeholders want to benefit from clean electricity
In spring 2021, PSE gathered input from customers and stakeholders on their clean electricity values and the benefits they want to see from the clean electricity transformation. PSE collected input via customer surveys, advisory group meetings, and “go to you” meetings with community-based organizations.
We summarized the comments into several topics below. Click on a comment to read more details.
Customer benefits
Using customer benefits to shape our plan
To ensure our clean electricity actions create the benefits our customers want to see, we have used community input to develop customer benefit indicators (CBIs). CBIs are qualities or outcomes customers want to result from our clean electricity actions.
How we use customer benefit indicators:
- To guide our choice of actions and investments to reach our clean electricity targets
- To measure our progress toward the benefits our customers want to see
Improved participation from vulnerable and highly impacted populations
How we'll measure progress:
Measurement of participation by PSE customers within vulnerable and highly impacted populations
Increase in clean energy jobs
How we'll measure progress:
Tracking the number of jobs created by PSE programs, including for vulnerable and highly impacted populations
Improved home comfort and indoor air quality for vulnerable and highly impacted populations
How we'll measure progress:
Calculating the economic benefits of air temperature, indoor air quality, and lighting quality
Reduced cost impacts for vulnerable and highly impacted populations
How we'll measure progress:
Calculating the percentage of income spent on electricity bills for PSE customers in vulnerable and highly impacted populations
Improved outdoor air quality
How we'll measure progress:
Measurement of regulated pollutant emissions and reduction of pollution from PSE resources.
Improved community health
How we'll measure progress:
Calculating health factors like mortality, hospital admittance, work loss days
Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
How we'll measure progress:
Calculating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from PSE resources
Reduction of climate change impacts
How we'll measure progress:
Reducing peak electricity demand
Affordability of clean energy
How we'll measure progress:
Calculating the percentage of income spent on electricity bills for PSE customers
Decrease in frequency and duration of outages
How we'll measure progress:
Measuring the number of outages, total hours of outages and total backup electricity served during outages
Increased resiliency
How we'll measure progress:
Calculating the number of customers who have access to emergency power at home or at community centers
Targets and actions
We’re working to move further, faster with the clean electricity transition. PSE’s goal is to serve coal-free electricity by end of 2025, carbon neutral electricity by 2030, and 100 percent clean electricity by 2045. These goals require an incremental approach to ensure we also continue to serve our customers with safe, dependable and affordable electricity.
Over the next four years, PSE will increase our mix of clean electricity from
35% to 59%.
To achieve this target, we will pursue specific actions through programs and investments in the following areas:
Using customer benefits to shape our decisions
A new component of our energy resource planning is to use customer benefits to inform our program and investment decisions. PSE will use customer benefits to evaluate the types of electricity investments we’ll make over the next four years.
As part of the CEIP development process, PSE used customer benefits to identify potential program concepts for distributed energy resources – those local rooftop and ground solar and battery programs for homes and businesses. Shown below are local solar and battery storage programs that we’ve initially identified as having the opportunity to benefit our different types of customers. Additional programs will be available for energy efficiency and demand response.
All distributed energy resources concepts will seek inclusive opportunities for vulnerable populations and highly impacted communities.
Vulnerable and highly impacted populations
Battery storage
- Residential PSE battery (income-eligible) leasing: PSE leases space on private property to install a battery and the people who live on the property may be able to use the battery during some power outage events
Rooftop and ground solar
- Residential roof-top solar (income-eligible) leasing: PSE leases private space on a roof or other area to install solar panels that create electricity for the power grid
- Multifamily Community Solar: PSE electric customers who are renters subscribe to locally generated solar energy
- Income-eligible Community Solar (income-eligible): PSE income-eligible electric customers subscribe to locally generated solar energy
- Multifamily solar partnership program: PSE partners with multifamily properties like apartments to install solar panels to produce electricity for people who live on the property
- Multifamily unit rooftop solar incentive: PSE incentivizes customers to install solar panels
Residential customers
Battery storage
- Residential PSE battery leasing: PSE leases space on private property to install a battery and the people who live on the property may be able to use the battery during some power outage events
Rooftop and ground solar
- Residential roof-top solar leasing: PSE leases private space on a roof or other area to install solar panels that create electricity for the power grid
- Customer Connected Solar (existing program): PSE decreases a customer’s electric bill when they install their own solar panels and produce energy to send back to the grid (net metering).
- Community Solar (existing program): PSE electric customers subscribe to locally generated solar energy
Hybrid
- PSE Customer-sited solar + storage offering: PSE incentivizes customers to install solar panels and battery storage and PSE pays to use them
Commercial and industrial customers
Battery storage
- Commercial and industrial space leasing for batteries: PSE leases space on private property to install a battery and the people who live on the property may be able to use the battery during some power outage events
Rooftop and ground solar
- Commercial and industrial roof-top solar incentive: PSE incentivizes customers to install solar panels
- Distributed solar power purchase agreement (PPA): A third-party builds and manages solar panels and PSE purchases power from the system
Maintaining affordability in the transition
We know customers want to move further, faster to a clean electricity future. Transitioning to clean electricity and continuing to provide safe, reliable, and efficient energy are priorities for PSE. Growing our portfolio of clean resources so rapidly will increase customer’s bills.
We’re working to balance the transition to clean electricity while maintaining affordability for customers and avoid placing unfair burden on vulnerable populations. We estimate electricity rates will increase by an average of two percent per year (e.g., by about $6/month by 2025 for average residential customers and $37/month by 2025 for average business customers).
Although this aggressive path to a clean electricity will increase the average customer bill over time, the CEIP includes opportunities for customers to reduce their energy bills through energy efficiency, new demand response, and distributed energy resource programs.
Commitments and Next Steps
How we'll reach our clean electricity targets
Commitments
As we work to create a new clean energy future and address the urgency of climate change, we must do so in a way that ensures all of our customers, especially those who shoulder an outsized share of the climate burden, have a voice in and benefit from the transition to clean electricity. In listening to and learning from our new Equity Advisory Group (EAG), the following guiding principles arose from these discussions. PSE will use these principles to help guide CEIP implementation and ensure accountability and equity.
Build customer awareness and understanding of clean energy
Help customers gain a sense of value and ownership in the clean energy transformation.
Intentionally engage vulnerable and highly impacted populations in program design
Programs that work for the most vulnerable of us will work for all of us.
Create affordable and accessible programs for vulnerable and highly impacted populations
This requires opportunities for renters, multifamily units, small businesses, and low-income households to participate.
Effectively measure program and communication reach to vulnerable and highly impacted populations
This requires tracking participation by demographics and customer benefit indicators.
Make outreach and education culturally relevant, meaningful and intentional
This requires sharing information in multiple languages, using both digital and non-digital tools, and growing partnerships with community-based organizations.
Build education and resources among partners and customers to increase equity in clean energy and benefits
We must do this to increase equity in clean energy programs and benefits.
These are preliminary principles. PSE and the EAG will continue to develop these principles for the Final CEIP and may adjust these further during implementation. PSE is also committed to an ongoing and iterative energy planning process, which includes incorporation of the results of procurement processes, tracking progress on customer benefit indicators, and learnings from initial implementation of programs.
Next steps for the CEIP process and implementation
Dec. 17, 2021
PSE will finalize the CEIP and file it with the Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC).
2022
UTC will approve, deny or modify our CEIP.
PSE will begin implementing the CEIP, using customer benefit indicators to inform our program and investment decisions. We will continue to engage with customers and our advisory groups on CEIP implementation and progress updates.
2023
PSE will report our progress toward our targets and customer benefit indicators.
PSE will begin deploying new clean electricity programs.
Planning the clean electricity future is an ongoing process with implementation, annual reporting and plan updates. This CEIP is the first of many. We will continue to engage with our customers and stakeholders at each step of the way on our path to 100% clean electricity.
Submit questions or comments
Thank you for your interest in Puget Sound Energy’s Clean Energy Implementation Plan (CEIP)! The comments we received by Nov. 12 will be processed and addressed in the final CEIP, expected Dec. 17, 2021.
We will continue to accept and review comments on the draft CEIP, but our ability to include your feedback in the final CEIP becomes less likely as we move into December and approach the Dec. 17 filing date.