Puget Sound Energy

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Puget Energy, Inc. (PSE)

Type	Public (NYSE: PSD)
Founded	Seattle, Washington, 1873
Headquarters	Bellevue, Washington
Key people	Steven Reynolds, Chairman, President and CEO
Industry	Energy, Private utility
Products	Electricity and Natural Gas
Revenue	$2,905. Mil. (2006 Sales)
Employees	2,400
Website	www.pse.com

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is an energy company providing electrical power and natural gas in the Puget Sound region of the northwest United States. It serves electrical power to over 1 million customers in Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Pierce, Skagit, Thurston, and Whatcom counties and natural gas to over 720,000 customers in King, Kittitas, Lewis, Pierce, Snohomish and Thurston counties. The company owns fossil-fuel, hydroelectric, and wind-power plants with more than 2,400 MW of capacity.

Puget Sound Energy derives approximately 45 percent of its electricity ^[1] from hydroelectric power. The company operates these hydroelectric facilities:

The Baker River Hydroelectric Project on the Baker River, a tributary of the Skagit River in Skagit County. There are two dams on the river, generating 175 MW of electric power.
Two power plants at Snoqualmie Falls, on the Snoqualmie River in King County. The two power plants generate 44 MW of electric power.
The Electron Hydroelectric Project on the Puyallup River in Pierce County generates 26 MW of electric power.

PSE derives about 5 percent of its electricity from renewable sources (besides hydropower). The company owns and operates these wind-power facilities:

The Hopkins Ridge Wind Facility in southeast Washington’s Columbia County. Hopkins Ridge’s 83 wind turbines generate 150 MW of electric power.
The Wild Horse Wind Farm in central Washington’s Kittitas County. Wild Horse’s 127 wind turbines generate 229 MW of electric power.

The company was formed in 1997 when the region's largest natural gas supplier, Washington Natural Gas, merged with the region's largest non-governmental supplier of electricity, Puget Sound Power & Light (commonly referred to as "Puget Power" until the merger).

PSE's parent company, holding company Puget Energy, trades on the New York Stock Exchange using the ticker symbol PSD.

In 2008 PSE proposed a merger into Puget Holdings, an investor group led by the Macquarie Group, which specializes in privatizing public companies, utilities, and roads.