Avista isn’t on Wall Street

I am trying to decide if Avista is a Wall Street bank or a utility company. It seems like the company pays its executives like they are Wall Street bankers. But because Avista is a utility company that has a monopoly, and we can’t buy our natural gas or electricity from anyone else, it is supposed to be regulated by the Utilities and Transportation Commission.

But for some unknown reason, this commission has granted Avista six electricity rate hikes since Jan. 1, 2013. And, according to Google, there is a glut of natural gas right now and the price is below $3 a unit.

So why do our bills keep going up? What is going to happen to our senior citizens on fixed incomes who will have to close down their homes to one room and heat with a wood stove and use candles for light?

Find out where the Utilities and Transportation Commission meets, show up and demand to know how much of our rate increases goes toward executive bonuses. Oh, how I long for the days when we had a locally owned utility company named Washington Water Power that gave us good service at a low cost.

Myra Johnson

Spokane