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Oh, sweet Avista. Three years ago (four?) my November electric bill was $400. I immediately called Avista to see what was going on. The lady I spoke with (typewriter keys clicking in the background) told me that my normal usage, their rate hike, and the current weather combined suggested this amount was probably pretty accurate. No problem, pay the bill. In the following months, the bill kept increasing, and the house was damn cold. Every month I called. Typewriter key sounds, “nope, this looks totally in line with your normal usage.” By February (bill $550) I got a friend in construction to come out and look at my place and see what could possibly be wrong (we were thinking some kind of electric ground fault or something)/Trish Gannon, River Journal (shown in condom dress she’ll wear to Blogfest ‘09 with daughter). Full comment below.
Question: Do you have a sweet Avista horror story re: winter bills?
Oh, sweet Avista.
Three years ago (four?) my November electric bill was $400. I immediately called Avista to see what was going on. The lady I spoke with (typewriter keys clicking in the background) told me that my normal usage, their rate hike, and the current weather combined suggested this amount was probably pretty accurate. No problem, pay the bill.
In the following months, the bill kept increasing, and the house was damn cold. Every month I called. Typewriter key sounds, “nope, this looks totally in line with your normal usage.”
By February (bill $550) I got a friend in construction to come out and look at my place and see what could possibly be wrong (we were thinking some kind of electric ground fault or something).
I have a doublewide mobile home. (oh, excuse me, manufactured home). My friend crawled underneath and explained what he found. Turns out there’s a crossover vent from the side of the trailer where the furnace is to the ducts on the other side. The crossover vent is made of the same material your dryer vent is made of. A packrat had ripped a large hole in mine and made himself a nest.
For months I had been sending my heat outside. “Perfectly normal usage” my butt.
March bill was $525 (billed before I fixed the vent). I paid $475. Two weeks later (two weeks!) Avista shut my power off. It cost me a $600 deposit to turn it back on.
Late March I bought a wood stove and I dream of the day I will be totally off the electric company teat.
Do I believe Avista? Not even close.
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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Dan_at_Avista on February 27 at 10:56 a.m.
Trish,
I work at Avista, but don’t have access to any of your customer account info, but I wanted to let you know that we do get it. Bills were high for many people recently and it can be a bit of a shock – even for me. It was a crazy winter with very low temps and record snow, and of course you were hit extra hard because your heating system was directing the heat outside and away from where you need it. Unfortunately your story probably exemplifies the reality for most people when it comes to energy efficiency – old outdated or misdirected heating systems (and drafty houses) make your bills higher because its working extra hard to deliver the heat. The term “normal usage” is unfortunately accurate in many cases given the efficiency of some systems.
You absolutely did the right thing to get your equipment checked out and I hope you’ll notice a change in your future bills. I personally appreciate you sharing your story and I think it will help remind people to get their systems checked out to maximize efficiency and save money.
If anyone out there is looking for some simple efficiency tips or looking for rebates for energy efficiency measures, visit www.everylittlebit.com.
PDXPup on February 27 at 11:02 a.m.
Gah. My local company, PGE, can suck it. I was out of town in regular weekly increments throughout November, December and January and I shut my heat and lights off in my apartment completely, but I noticed my electric bill had more than doubled from the summer months; I now keep the heat down even when I am home and my bill is STILL excessive. Seriously, I keep the temperature cool enough in my apartment that I can take a stick of butter out of the fridge and it’s still hard two hours later. I figure I have enough blankets and sweats…I might as well use them.
trishgannon on February 27 at 11:57 a.m.
Thanks, Dan, but this happened four years ago. Whoever the people were that I talked to then just didn’t get it, as they kept assuring me that my bill was normal. At almost four times higher than what it had been in the past (in colder years, even) it was not even close to normal. I think in some areas Avista is an exemplary company, but no, I will not make the mistake of believing them again when they give information on my electric bill. :0(
Escapee on February 27 at 6:20 p.m.
Pacific Power and Light used the same techniques with me…when I called them, complaining about my high electric bills, the answer was pretty much, “there’s no way you’re going to get your bill reduced, so you have to find ways of lowering your usage of power”. Of course, those in the high echelons of utility companies never have cause to complain ‘cos they can always afford their heating bills.
hmoffsuite on February 27 at 6:44 p.m.
In the winter months, my Avista bill is my very favorite to receive. Last month it was $4.50. The month before, it was the same. Reason is, of course, that when we move to Arizona in the fall, we shut the house down completely. Drain the pipes, shut down everything. But, during the summer, while we are in Cda., I have the pleasure of paying an Arizona bill for about $300 -$400 each month, and we aren’t even there! Have to keep the A/C on and temp at 90 degrees so everything in the house doesn’t melt. Just to let you know how they get you coming or going.