Puget Sound Energy Media Release, Covid-19

MEDIA RELEASE

PSE responds to COVID-19

Puget Sound Energy is taking measurable actions to help our customers and communities during this coronavirus situation

BELLEVUE, Wash. (March 13, 2020) –As a provider of an essential service to our customers, Puget Sound Energy is working to ensure we are here for our customers, our community and our employees as coronavirus impacts the region.

We know some of our business and residential customers might be worried about paying their bills. Therefore, here are measurable actions we’ve taken on behalf of our customers: 

• PSE will not be disconnecting customers during this time.
• We received approval from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission for a waiver that allows PSE to waive late fees.
• PSE will work with our customers on options such as payment plans and choosing a new bill due date.
• PSE launched a new energy assistance portal to improve access to funds available to low income customers.

In order to help our community partners, the PSE Foundation, which is a nonprofit entity operating independently of PSE but helps the communities PSE serves, is donating $250,000 to support relief efforts in the community through the Seattle Foundation as well as donating to foodbanks to cover emergency preparations.

PSE has also been taking proactive steps to limit exposure and help our community get through the coronavirus situation safely. As part of its ongoing business continuity planning, it had previously identified critical functions necessary to support gas and electricity delivery to customers. Each of these critical functions has an existing flu response plan that the company has updated and is exercising.

These are the recent measures the company has taken:

• PSE has limited access to our facilities that provide emergency/critical operations.
• PSE has asked employees to postpone all non-essential domestic and international airline business travel.
• Non-essential events and meetings, both within PSE and in the public, will be postponed.
• Out of an abundance of caution and following the recommendation made by King County Public Health, PSE is requiring all staff who can work from home to work from home until further notice.
• For those who cannot work remotely, we are increasing sanitation services at public spaces at our facilities. 

PSE will continue to provide essential services to its 1.5 million customers. It will respond to outages with caution just as always. Safety of its community and its employees is top priority.

Media Contact:

Janet Kim, 888-831-7250, psenewsroom@pse.com 

Puget Sound Energy is proud to serve our neighbors and communities in 10 Washington counties.

We’re the state’s largest utility, supporting 1.1 million electric customers and nearly 900,000 natural gas customers.

For more about us and what we do, visit pse.com. Also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.