Power is concentrated

I’m surprised I haven’t seen more feedback regarding Avista’s profits. I guess they’ve just beaten us down to the point where we’ve abandoned all hope.

When the Utilities and Transportation Commission asked for input regarding the proposed increase last fall, I wrote them a letter with documentation from Avista’s own press releases about record profits. The utility raise we suffered (again) in December of 2010 was to ensure their profits were up 6 percent, as reported in The Spokesman-Review. It was also reported their CEO has a compensation package of over $3 million.

Am I the only one slightly outraged by such an amount? Is there really anybody worth $1,500 an hour?

They have a monopoly on utilities, so we have no choice but to pay what Avista needs to maintain their profits and compensation packages. We are supposed to be able to rely on the utility commission to protect our interest and be our first line of defense against unreasonable and unnecessary increases. Perhaps we do away with the commission and put rate increases on a referendum. Then the voters can decide if a rate increase is warranted.

Stan Gilmore

Spokane