POLL: Would You Support An Energy Rate Increase?

For some on the Plateau, today is the first day of full, functioning power after in the wake of . Homes and businesses were without power for more than five days as Puget Sound Energy worked around the clock to get the region back on the grid.

PSE serves more than 1 million electric customers and nearly 750,000 natural gas customers in parts of Snohomish, King, Pierce, Lewis, Thurston and Kittitas counties. Now, they are asking their customers for a rate increase of 8.1 percent, or $8.37 a month, for the average residential electricity customer. The typical natural-gas ratepayer would pay an additional 3 percent, or $2.84 a month, under PSE’s request.

The rate increase would result in $160 million a year in new electricity revenues and $33 million a year in natural gas revenues for PSE.

Thus far, the public has overwhelmingly objected to the rate, with 311 opposed, 2 in favor and 27 undecided.

According to the Tacoma News Tribune, the proposal for a rate increase is not the result of strained resources after Snopocalypse – the organization requested it back in the summer – and after much planning and debate, the issue is finally up for public comment.

A third-party commission hired to study the plan opposes such a steep increase, instead suggesting a $2.05 increase in the average residential electricity customer’s monthly rate. The typical natural gas user would see about a 13 cent rate hike, under the alternative plan.

In addition, the commission staff is urging a 7.59 percent overall rate of return, not the 8.42 percent the company originally sought. Electricity revenues would increase by $39 million, natural gas revenues by $1.5 million annually.

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PSE will hold two public hearings on the rate increase. The first meeting is at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, in the Bellevue City Hall Council Chambers, 450 110th Ave. N.E., Bellevue. The second meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15 in the second-floor hearing room of the commission headquarters, 1300 S. Evergreen Park Dr. S.W., Olympia.

Customers who would like to comment on the case are encouraged to write the UTC at: P.O. Box 47250 Olympia, Wash. 98504, submit comments online at www.utc.wa.gov/comment, e-mail comments to comment@utc.wa.gov or call toll-free 1-888-333-9882. The commission’s deadline for accepting public comments is Feb. 17.