(The Center Square) – The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission has ordered Puget Sound Energy to start itemizing costs from Washington’s Climate Commitment Act on customer bills by June 2026.
The CCA created a cap-and-trade program that limits and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from major polluters through a market system in which companies buy allowances for their pollution, driving down emissions over time. The CCA has raised more than $4 billion in total auction revenue since 2023.
On Dec. 24, the WUTC issued a new order requiring Puget Sound Energy to explicitly list the “State Carbon Reduction Charge” as a standalone line item on customer bills and rename the existing carbon credit line to “CCA Customer Benefit” for clarity and consistency.
In November, the free-market Washington Policy Center think tank – along with the Citizen Action Defense Fund, a government watchdog organization – urged the state Attorney General’s Office and the WUTC to lift the prohibition on itemizing CCA charges on natural gas bills.
A 2023 ruling by the WUTC directed utilities, like PSE, to stop listing CCA compliance costs as separate line items on customer bills, stating that only customer-benefiting charges should appear.
WPC and CADF contend that obscuring mandatory government fees erodes accountability and makes financial management more difficult for citizens, businesses, and public organizations alike.
Although the state AGO initially argued that it could not change the prior order, it later acknowledged public concern over rising utility bills and the demand for transparency regarding CCA costs.
“This puts to rest the question of whether the CCA increases prices,” Todd Myers, WPC’s vice president for research, told The Center Square on Tuesday afternoon.
In 2021 and 2022, former Gov. Jay Inslee and the Department of Ecology argued that the CCA would have a minimal impact on gasoline prices.
Critics, including WPC, point to significant increases – up to 50 cents per gallon – directly tied to the CCA’s carbon allowances and say it’s a regressive tax. Proponents highlight CCA’s role in holding polluters accountable and funding clean energy, with benefits unfolding over time.
“It’s hard for people to know how much it hits them,” Myers said of the CCA’s impact. “This provides real, tangible evidence of what people are paying to do this.”
He said he hopes itemizing CCA costs on PSE bills will “help give people an opportunity to make educated judgments on policy” and “will help stop the trend of government taxing people and trying to hide it.”
“This is how government should work,” said CADF Executive Director Jackson Maynard in a news release. “When policies raise costs, the public has a right to see it clearly, not buried in fine print or hidden in bundled charges.”
On Tuesday morning, The Center Square reached out to PSE for comment.
“I’m working on a response and hope to have information to you late today or early tomorrow morning,” PSE spokesperson Melanie Coon emailed The Center Square Tuesday afternoon.
