Five Ways Facility Owners Can Stay Ahead of Rising Utility Bills

American utilities requested a record $31 billion in rate increases in 2025. Now, facility owners across the country are beginning to feel the impact.

From the Pacific Northwest to the Rocky Mountains and beyond, utilities are seeking significant rate increases to fund grid modernization, infrastructure upgrades and growing electricity demand. Puget Sound Energy customers absorbed back-to-back increases of 11.5% and 12% in 2025 and 2026, with another 30% proposed over the next three years. Seattle City Light, Avista and Tacoma Power have also approved or proposed increases, while electricity prices continue climbing in many wholesale markets. Xcel Energy is seeking nearly a 10% increase for its 1.6 million Colorado customers.

For facility owners, the question is no longer whether utility costs will rise. It’s how to stay ahead. For many organizations, the first instinct is to budget for higher utility costs. But according to Geremy Wolff, vice president of energy and technical services at McKinstry, that approach overlooks a larger opportunity.

“Rising utility costs are a signal that organizations need to take a closer look at how their buildings are operating. In nearly every facility, there are opportunities to reduce energy waste, improve performance and offset rising costs. You can’t control what a utility does, but there are things you can do to take control of your consumption,” said Wolff.

Rising Utility Bills Are an Operations Challenge, Not Just a Budget Challenge

Unlike capital budgets, operating budgets often leave little room for unexpected costs. Every additional dollar spent on utilities is a dollar that cannot be invested in classrooms, patient care, public services or business operations. That’s why responding to rising utility rates requires more than simply increasing next year’s energy budget.

Facility performance depends on three interconnected factors: utility consumption, building operations and physical assets. Looking at one without considering the others can cause organizations to just absorb higher costs instead of addressing the underlying drivers of energy use.

Research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that optimizing existing building systems through operational improvements can reduce energy costs by up to 15% without replacing major equipment. Many utilities also offer incentives to help fund these operational improvement projects, yet those programs remain underused.

As organizations navigate higher energy costs alongside evolving building performance standards in states such as Washington and Colorado, improving building performance can help reduce operating costs while supporting long-term compliance and resilience.

While every facility is different, the organizations that have reduced energy costs most effectively tend to focus on the same core areas:

1. Existing Building Commissioning. Evaluate how existing systems are performing and optimizing their performance to reduce energy waste before pursuing larger capital investments.
2. Building controls optimization. Reprogramming building automation systems, updating setpoints and aligning schedules with actual occupancy can deliver savings without replacing hardware.
3. Occupancy and demand-based controls. Lighting and HVAC systems that respond to how a building is actually being used, rather than a fixed schedule, eliminate a common source of avoidable costs.
4. Preventive maintenance. Clogged filters, dirty coils and deferred maintenance quietly erode efficiency. Addressing the basics protects the performance of every other system in the building while extending the equipment’s life.
5. Facility condition assessments. A clear picture of asset condition and remaining useful life enables smarter capital planning and helps prioritize investments that reduce long term cost, risk, utility spend and operational costs.

While these strategies apply broadly, the challenges driving them vary by location. In Washington, organizations are managing rising utility costs alongside new building performance requirements, including Washington’s Clean Buildings Performance Standard. In Colorado, facility owners are balancing higher utility costs with long-term capital planning as utilities evaluate additional rate increases and organizations navigate the state’s Building Performance Standard and other evolving energy requirements.

Although utility markets and regulations vary, the objective remains consistent: reduce unnecessary energy use, improve operational performance and make every operating dollar go further.

A Better Way Forward

Rising utility rates are likely to remain a long-term reality.

“Organizations don’t always have control over utility rate increases, but they do have control over how efficiently their buildings operate. The goal should be finding opportunities to improve performance, reduce waste and make budgets go further,” said Wolff.

Rather than treating higher utility bills as an unavoidable expense, facility owners have an opportunity to evaluate building performance, identify operational improvements and develop long-term strategies that reduce energy waste while protecting operating budgets.

The organizations best positioned for the future will be those that proactively improve how their buildings perform, using efficiency, operational excellence and long-term planning to stay ahead of rising utility costs.