Washington's biggest utility pays customers to save energy during heat wave

With temperatures expected to hit the 90s in much of Washington Wednesday, the state’s largest utility is paying some customers to save energy.

Puget Sound Energy is paying customers to temporarily dial back their electricity use to keep power prices down.

Demand for electricity is expected to surge as people flee the heat and crank up the air conditioning.

A surge in air conditioning during a heat wave in July 2024 drove up regional electricity use by Puget Sound Energy customers by more than one-third, according to the Energy Information Administration.

RELATED: It’s about to hit 90 degrees in Seattle. Here’s how to keep your pets cool

Such spikes in demand could force PSE and other utilities to buy expensive power on the open market.

“Customers’ efforts to collectively contribute to smoothing out the demand during high demand periods helps us transition to cleaner energy and keeps us from going to the market or using those more costly facilities to generate more energy,” Puget Sound Energy spokesperson Gerald Tracy said.

During extreme-weather events such as heat waves or wintertime cold snaps, Puget Sound Energy asks customers to reduce or shift their electricity use away from peak hours and activates programs that reward customers who do so.

Customers who sign up for “PSE Flex” programs get paid to do things like turn up their thermostats a few degrees or charge electric vehicles late at night.

In one PSE Flex program, customers get $25 to enroll and $1 for every kilowatt-hour they save during brief windows when power demand is peaking.

Running a typical dishwasher for an hour will use about 1.8 kilowatt-hours of electricity, according to solar power company Perch Energy.

Puget Sound Energy says short-term conservation can keep everyone’s prices down.

“If we're able to have even just a good amount of our customers take part in this, the little bit that everybody does helps the group as a whole,” Tracy said.

Conservation during heat waves is especially effective at keeping pollution out of the air.

The gas-burning power plants that get fired up during peak demand are typically much more polluting than everyday electricity.

Tracy said the PSE Flex program, launched in 2024, is a response to the increasing frequency of extreme weather as the climate warms.

“PSE is really beginning to scale up these ‘demand-response’ programs,” said Fred Heutte with the nonprofit Northwest Energy Coalition, which has been urging utilities to adopt such programs for years.

Puget Sound Energy does more to contribute to the problem of climate change than almost any entity in Washington state. The company’s gas and power plants emitted 12 million tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in 2023, more than any other company required to disclose in-state emissions to the Washington Department of Ecology. Multinational tech giant Amazon reported Wednesday that its global emissions rose 6% in 2023 to 68 million tons.

Seattle City Light spokesperson Jenn Strang said on Tuesday that the city-owned utility was not asking customers to conserve electricity.

Heutte said Puget Sound Energy relies more on the expensive power market than Seattle City Light, which owns several of its own hydropower dams. But, he said, all utilities can benefit from adopting demand-response programs.

“We would like all the utilities to do a lot more of it because it will be beneficial to all their customers,” Heutte said. “If the grid is more reliable and the lights stay on, that’s obviously a benefit to everybody,” Heutte said.

Energy-saving tips from Puget Sound Energy include:

• Set your thermostat as high as comfortably possible, and no lower than 72 degrees.

• Close window blinds and curtains to block direct sunlight.

• In the evening, open windows for cross ventilation.

• Use fans to help circulate air for a cooler feeling at most temperatures.

• Cook dinner later or outside to prevent additional heat buildup.

• Run appliances such as dishwashers, clothes washers, and dryers at night.

• Use a smart thermostat to automatically adjust the temperature while you’re away.