Seattle City Light commercial electricity rates in Washington

• Average commercial price, 202512.48¢per kWh, all commercial customers
• vs Washington average+14%state commercial average 10.97¢
• Commercial customers52,6802nd largest of 34 in Washington
• Average use7,875 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$983a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015+61%from 7.75¢ per kWh
• Outages129 mina year per customer · US average 124

Seattle City Light is a municipal utility serving 1 county in Washington. Among the 34 Washington utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the 2nd largest, with about 13% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as City of Seattle.

Seattle City Light commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 Seattle City Light billed its commercial customers an average of 7.75¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 12.48¢, so it rose 61% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in Washington rose 33% over the same period. The latest year, 2025, is the highest of the 11 on record here. Between 2024 and 2025 it rose 6.0%.

Average use and average bill are the utility’s commercial sales and revenue divided by its commercial customers and by twelve. The bill is an all-in figure: energy, delivery, demand and fixed charges together. A few very large customers pull both averages up, so most businesses use and pay less than the average.

Residential, commercial and industrial prices at Seattle City Light

In 2025 the average commercial price at Seattle City Light was 15% below the residential figure and 18% above the industrial one. Larger customers take power at a higher voltage and use it more steadily, so at most utilities the average falls from residential to commercial to industrial. Which class an account falls in is the utility’s decision, and the line between commercial and industrial is drawn differently from one utility to the next.

How Seattle City Light’s commercial rates are set

Seattle City Light is owned by the community it serves. Its rates are set locally, by the city council or a utility board, and in most states the state commission does not set them. A commercial account is billed on a rate schedule, chosen by the size of the account and the voltage it takes power at, and a schedule usually combines a fixed monthly charge, a charge per kWh and, above a certain size, a demand charge on the highest rate of draw in the month. The schedule code is printed on the bill. There is no competitive supply market for ordinary commercial accounts in Washington, so the levers are the schedule, the peak and the amount used.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at Seattle City Light

EIA counts 75,786 commercial meters at Seattle City Light in 2025, and 69,406 of them (92%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. Of the rest, 6,380 are standard meters. An advanced meter is what makes interval data possible, and interval data is what shows when a building’s peak demand happens.

At Seattle City Light, 172 commercial customers were on a time-varying rate in 2025, about 0.3% of its commercial customers. A time-varying rate charges more in some hours than in others, so when a business uses power matters as well as how much. The kinds Seattle City Light reports offering commercial customers are time-of-use pricing.

EIA records 492 commercial net-metered generating systems at Seattle City Light in 2025, with 10.4 MW of capacity between them: about 9.3 for every 1,000 commercial customers. Net metering credits a customer for power its own system sends to the grid; the terms are in the utility’s tariff.

How reliable is Seattle City Light’s electric service?

Seattle City Light customers went without power for an average of 129 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 0.93 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 158 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where Seattle City Light serves

EIA records Seattle City Light serving customers in 1 Washington county: King. A county can be shared between utilities, so this does not tell you who serves a given address. The utility that serves an address is the one named on its bill.

EIA lists Seattle City Light as its balancing authority, the body that keeps supply and demand matched minute by minute across the area.

Other utilities in Washington

The average each billed its commercial customers in 2025. The Washington page has the state’s own figures and every utility with 500 or more commercial customers.

• Puget Sound Energy (15.66¢)
• Snohomish County PUD (9.90¢)
• Avista (14.30¢)
• Clark Public Utilities (8.76¢)
• Tacoma Power (10.65¢)
• Pacific Power (13.21¢)

What these figures can and cannot tell you

• They are averages over every commercial customer. A utility whose commercial customers are mostly large averages fewer cents per kWh than one serving mostly small shops, so a lower figure can mean larger customers and not a lower rate.
• They are not a rate schedule. None of these figures is a charge printed in Seattle City Light’s tariff, and nothing here works out a bill from one. The tariff index lists the utilities whose filed schedules are quoted on this site.
• They are annual and final. EIA publishes utility figures once a year. The Washington page carries the state’s trailing 12 months, which is more recent and still preliminary.

For one building, the cost estimator gives a range by building type, size and state, and price by utility sets every utility side by side. Commercial vs residential vs industrial compares the classes in every state.

Data: every year of these figures, for this utility and every other with a page, is in one CSV, free to use with credit to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and this site. To cite this page: Seattle City Light commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about Seattle City Light

What is the average commercial electricity rate at Seattle City Light?

Seattle City Light billed its commercial customers in Washington an average of 12.48¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 14% above the Washington commercial average of 10.97¢. It is the utility’s commercial revenue divided by its commercial sales, so it describes the whole class and is not the rate on any one schedule.

How much is the average commercial electric bill at Seattle City Light?

About $983 a month in 2025, on average use of about 7,875 kWh a month. That is Seattle City Light’s commercial revenue divided by its 52,680 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have Seattle City Light’s commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average Seattle City Light billed commercial customers rose 61% between 2015 and 2025, from 7.75¢ to 12.48¢ per kWh. The Washington commercial average rose 33% over the same period.

How reliable is Seattle City Light’s electric service?

Seattle City Light customers averaged 129 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Does Seattle City Light use smart meters for businesses?

EIA counts 69,406 advanced (AMI) meters among Seattle City Light’s 75,786 commercial meters in 2025, which is 92%. An advanced meter records use at least hourly, which is what makes interval data and time-varying rates possible.

Is this the rate my business will pay Seattle City Light?

No. It is an average over every commercial customer, from a corner shop to a campus. What one business pays depends on its rate schedule, how much it uses and how hard it draws at its peak. The schedule code is printed on the bill, and the schedule itself is in Seattle City Light’s tariff.