As surging utility costs make housing less affordable throughout King County, Executive Braddock brings together partners to develop a more sustainable future

News

With household costs for utilities projected to rapidly increase each year for the next decade – making housing even less affordable than it is today – King County Executive Shannon Braddock and Sound Cities Association on Friday brought together more than 150 elected officials, regulators, and public works managers from throughout King County to develop a path that both protects the natural environment and reduces the burden on homeowners.

A typical single-family household in King County currently pays an estimated $400 per month for utilities, including natural gas, electricity, solid waste, stormwater, sewer, and water. The combined monthly costs will likely continue to escalate over the next decade due to inflation in the construction industry, new environmental regulations, and the need to maintain and expand aging infrastructure to serve a growing population.

Convening the Regional Utility Rate Summit with Sound Cities Association was part of Executive Braddock’s 200-Day Plan to position the region for success before a new County Executive takes office. Executive-elect Girmay Zahilay joined Executive Braddock to close the summit. 

“The rising costs of utilities are making it even more challenging for people in King County to afford housing,” said Executive Braddock. “The good news is that our region knows how to work together to protect the natural environment and find ways to reduce the cost burden on the people and families who call this place home.”

Here is one example of a projected cost increase: The Department of Ecology’s proposed wastewater nutrient regulations would require upgrades at King County regional treatment plants that would cost an estimated $10 billion to $20 billion in current dollars. The upgrades needed to comply with the proposed regulations would be paid for by local households and could result in monthly sewer rates doubling each decade, on average, for the next 30 years.

Local utilities are in discussions with the Department of Ecology, which has new leadership under Gov. Bob Ferguson, to develop solutions that protect the natural environment while managing costs and not exacerbating the affordable housing crisis.

"Community members across our region have made one thing clear: household and business budgets are at a breaking point," said City Councilmember Penny Sweet of Kirkland, one of 38 cities represented by Sound Cities Association. "We, as elected officials, need to learn more about the underlying issues driving costs up, pause new initiatives that lead to new costs, and change our approach as we address this critical challenge.  Our region has a proven track record of coming together to tackle big problems, and now’s the time for us to do so again."

Multiple factors are causing utility rates to surge. They include labor and material shortages in the construction industry, the need to increase capacity to serve a growing population, state and federal regulations for wastewater treatment, and infrastructure built during the mid-20th century needing to be upgraded or replaced.