Can Kent residents sue PSE over its monopoly? Three separate legal doctrines say no.
I keep seeing people say a class action could break up PSE's monopoly, so I went and read the actual law. Short version: it almost certainly fails. State action immunity (Parker v. Brown, 1943) covers monopolies the state authorizes and supervises. The filed rate doctrine (1922) bars damages claims over rates a regulator approved. And Washington's own antitrust provisions (RCW 19.86.170) exempt anything the utilities commission regulates. Any one of those is enough. What does work is the rate case itself. The current request asks for electric increases of 15.15% in 2027, 3.74% in 2028, and 8.7% in 2029. Virtual hearing is October 7, written comments open under UE-260005 and UG-260006 at utc.wa.gov. I'm not a lawyer, so tell me if I'm missing an angle. Full write-up is in the first comment (I'm the author).
Comment 1: The legal analysis, with citations (I wrote it): https://ewyattmendel.substack.com/p/your-pse-bill-will-keep-rising-a
More on utilities and public records coming. Follow along here if you want it: https://ewyattmendel.substack.com/