Seattle City Light

Seattle City Light does not offer a separate EV time-of-use rate. Instead it has an opt-in residential time-of-use rate, launched in May 2026, that applies to all household usage including car charging. Peak hours run 5pm to 9pm Monday through Saturday, mid-peak covers 6am to 5pm and 9pm to midnight on those days, and off-peak is midnight to 6am every day. Peak prices run about twice off-peak, so charging overnight is the cheapest option. The rate requires an advanced meter and is best for drivers who can shift charging to the early morning hours.

Home charging support comes through an instant discount of up to $400 on a qualifying Level 2 charger bought from a participating distributor, capped at 80 percent of retail. This discount is independent of the time-of-use rate, so you can take the discount whether or not you opt into time-of-use pricing. Business and multifamily incentives are separate programs with their own caps; as of May 2025 the multifamily charger rebate is open only to affordable-housing properties. There is no residential managed-charging program at this time.

City Light is a publicly owned utility whose rates are set by the Seattle City Council rather than the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, which regulates investor-owned utilities like Puget Sound Energy. Because much of Seattle is dense urban housing without off-street parking, the utility runs a public curbside Level 2 charging network, with chargers in residential neighborhoods that cost $0.21 per kilowatt-hour and are open to any driver on a first-come basis.