FWIW: I get a vastly superior experience from Seattle utilities than Comcast or any number of other private services. About my worst complaint is that PSE (the

FWIW: I get a vastly superior experience from Seattle utilities than Comcast or any number of other private services. About my worst complaint is that PSE (the local natural gas company) has a hokey early 2000s website with ugly visual design...but functional SSL and working autopay + email billing. Whenever I've had to call them to change service or what have you, I've spent less than five minutes getting a knowledgable human who isn't reading a script onto the phone. Seattle City Light is equally good; the trash pickup people have annoying timing but responsive customer service and extremely friendly workers. I've had one power outage in about four years (lightning strike to a distribution station.) As for rates, power and gas are fine. Trash I feel is a little high, but not unworkably so (and they're trying to incentivize me to compost and recycle more, both of which are free at the margin.) Seattle city government is borderline incompetent, our bus system is collapsing due to union capture, we can't build roads or tunnels...but the utilities seem to work Just Fine. I'd be very happy if Seattle City Light ran fiber. (This despite Seattle's incompetent city government trying to roll out municipal fiber and failing miserably. I just wonder what would have happened if the utilities had been in charge.)