Seattle Public Utilities: Accessible Program in a High-cost City
Of the utilities surveyed in the H2Affordability Report, few offered comprehensive coverage and easy access as Seattle's water system. The system serves 1.5 million residents in the greater Seattle, Washington area with direct service to residents in and around Seattle, alongside wholesale partnerships and emergency agreements with smaller municipalities and water districts.
Seattle is an expensive city; one study ranked it among the five most expensive cities to live in the country and Teodoro et al. (2017) ranked its water service as one of the most unaffordable. To address this concern, the state legislature has prioritized the funding of clean and accessible drinking water and wastewater services. For example, recently proposed House Bill 1139 provides funding for the replacement of water pipes in schools that contaminated the water supply with lead. In addition, Washington is one of very few states that explicitly allow public water utilities to use rate revenues to fund CAPs. This has allowed Seattle to have a financially generous CAP.
The discount is not the only area in which Seattle's CAP excels. Seattle Public Utilities requires no documentation at the time of applying and the customer has up to six months after applying to submit proof of income and their state-issued I.D. This provides flexibility for customers who may need immediate financial assistance. The application itself reads more like a survey with twelve questions, most of which ask for name, address, and contact information. This single application is used for electric, water, sewage, and solid waste bill discounts. Most notably, the utility discount program provides bill discounts to water customers who are not directly responsible for the water bill.
Seattle CAP application portal
CAP participation rates are hard to obtain, but LIHEAP, which is often looked to as a model for water rate assistance, was documented in 2020 as having only a 20 percent participation rate among income-eligible households within the city of Seattle taking advantage of energy assistance programs. It is reasonable to assume the participation rate in the Seattle Public Utilities CAP to range anywhere from 10 to 20 percent.
Increasing the CAP participation rate might cause an entirely new problem for the utility. Seattle Public Utilities uses 70 percent of the state median income as the income threshold for enrollment, which is currently $60,438. Roughly 40 percent of households would qualify for the CAP based on this income threshold. Subsidizing water bills by 50 percent (as per the CAP) for nearly half the customers with rate revenues from the other 60 percent of the customers will result in a cycle of rate increases. This fear prompts many state legislatures to restrict the use of rate revenues to fund these types of assistance programs. However, if used effectively as one of several affordability measures, CAPs can serve their purpose for the most financially vulnerable customers and keep overall rates stable.
