Tomorrow morning, Seattle Public Utilities will appear in front of the City Council’s Transportation and Utilities Committee to present its updated six-year strategic plan and an accompanying six-year plan for the rates it will be charging its customers. The strategic plan summarizes the highlights and challenges for the public utility company, including the factors leading to the new proposed rates.
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Seattle City Light proposes rate increases to cover revenue shortfall
This morning, representatives of Seattle City Light went before the City Council to pitch a change to the retail electricity rates that the utility charges. The bottom line: no visible change to rates this year, and a 3.9% increase next year. But these are complicated times, and there’s a fair amount to unpack in their proposal.
Continue readingMayor announce relief measures to address impact of COVID-19
This afternoon, Mayor Durkan announced a list of initial efforts to address the economic impacts that businesses and workers are feeling from the response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Continue readingGood news: your garbage bill isn’t going to go up as fast
This morning, Seattle Public Utilities presented its proposed solid waste rates for 2020-2022. And for once, there was good news: the rates aren’t going up as fast as was predicted in the utility’s Strategic Business Plan.
Continue readingO’Brien unveils bill prohibiting gas hookups for new buildings
This morning, Council member Mike O’Brien announced that he is introducing a bill that would prohibit the installation of natural gas piping systems in new buildings starting July 1, 2020.
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Will Seattle meet its recycling goals, and would switching to every-other-week garbage collection help?
This morning, Council members Herbold, O’Brien and Sawant discussed with leaders of Seattle Public Utilities whether the city should switch to garbage pickup every other week, as was investigated in a pilot program in 2012. SPU and the Mayor think not; the three Council members, however, are championing the idea.
Continue readingThe State of Recycling in Seattle
Last week the Council got a briefing from Seattle Public Utilities and Zero Waste Washington on what’s going on with recycling in Seattle. Despite strong support for recycling here, there are some substantial challenges.
Continue readingElectric vehicle charging infrasructure ordinance advances out of committee
This afternoon, the Sustainability and Transportation Committee voted to advance a bill that would require new construction to include wiring infrastructure to support future installation of electric vehicle charging stations.
Continue readingCouncil gets a quarterly report on capital projects
In an attempt to get better transparency over the city’s large capital projects and provide early warning on those running behind schedule or over budget, the City Council worked with the executive branch to define a quarterly report that lists all the projects and provides additional detail on a handful that have been added to a “watch list.” The second-quarter report is in; here’s what it says.
Continue readingDebra Smith confirmed as new CEO of Seattle City Light
This afternoon, the City Council unanimously voted to confirm Debra Smith as the new General Manager and CEO of Seattle City Light.
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