The Seattle City Council’s Governance and Utilities Committee committee chaired by District 3 rep and council president Joy Hollingsworth will discuss legislation that would make it easier for more residents to qualify for Seattle’s Utility Discount Program.
Under the proposal, the city would get ahead of expected changes in state law and set up a tiered process to expand income qualification for the program, changing the income measurement metric from the state median income to Seattle’s area median income.
The new immediate income threshold would be established at 60% of the area median income. This threshold adjustment acts as the first phase of a three-step process to ultimately expand program eligibility to households with incomes up to 80% of the area median income.
Under the current Utility Discount Program, around 39,000 eligible households receive a 60% discount on their Seattle City Light bills and a 50% discount on Seattle Public Utilities bills.
The City’s UDP is currently only available to people with incomes that do not exceed 70% of the state median income.
In 2025, SCL and SPU provided $50.1 million in assistance to customers through the program. According to the council’s analysis, implementing the 60% area median income threshold starting in April 2027 includes a proposed cost of $5 million for SCL and $13.9 million for SPU.
Those costs would be covered by SCL and SPU rate increases which the council is expected to consider in the summer of 2026.
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