(The Center Square) – Four companies are considering building major data centers in Seattle, sparking concerns about rate increases for all customers of electric utility company Seattle City Light.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson in a statement said she fears that utility rates at the city-owned utility could be impacted by increased costs of providing electricity to the data centers.
“That’s why my team is working closely with Seattle City Light, City Council and stakeholders to identify a range of long-term policy approaches, including exploring a moratorium on siting new centers,” she said in a post on her blog.
Wilson didn’t respond to requests for additional comment.
Data center expansion has become a nationwide issue causing concerns over rate hikes and the potential for power outages as the centers put increasing pressure on often overloaded electric power grids.
Seattle City Light spokeswoman Jenn Strang said that the three data companies: Prologis, Equinix and Sabey are considering four centers with power generating capabilities of between 54 and 117 megawatts of electricity.
The combined centers would need 369 megawatts of electricity, equal to roughly a third of Seattle’s average daily power consumption.
A 117 megawatt data center is very large, usually consuming between 500,000 and 1 million square feet of space.
The three companies did not respond to requests for comment from The Center Square.
Strang said none of the companies have submitted formal applications.
In the meantime, she said, the utility is studying the implications of the data centers.
“City Light does not currently have a rate or policy that only applies to new large data center loads; however, we are recommending we establish one, similar to other utilities in Washington,” she said.
Strang said it would take at least several years for a large data center to get off the ground if approved given the design and engineering processes that would be necessary.
Strang said City Light will continue to work with Wilson, the Seattle City Council and stakeholders to identify a range of long-term policy approaches.
The possibility of new data centers spiking rates comes at a time when Seattle City Light customers will be seeing a variety of rate increases.
Seattle City Light put into place a 5.6% rate increase for customers in January and has said that more increases will occur starting next year.
“Looking ahead to 2027 and beyond, we anticipate annual rate increases of 7 to 10% to support major investments in infrastructure, modernizing the grid, and advancing clean energy,” the utility said in a recent newsletter.
In addition, a $1.5 billion settlement with three native tribes allowing Seattle City Light to continue to use hydroelectric dams on the Skagit River to provide electricity will result in rate increases of 0.5% per year from 2027 to 2032.
Additional increases will also be needed for a nearly $1 billion project to trap and release salmon around the three city dams and because of $1.8 billion in capital construction costs to update the dams and their powerhouses, utility officials have said.
