Proficiency in Power Query is vital for Power BI developers as it enables them to clean, transform, and shape data before it’s visualized. Power Query provides a user-friendly interface and M language for handling a wide variety of data preparation tasks, such as merging datasets, filtering out irrelevant data, and creating calculated columns. Mastering Power Query allows developers to streamline the ETL process, ensuring that only accurate and relevant data is used in reports. This skill improves data quality and ensures that the reports are both efficient and scalable.