Avista article inadequate

I feel the March 22 article did a rather inadequate job of explaining Avista’s need for rate increases. While touching on a static customer base and declining energy usage as a cause, I don’t feel it was adequately explained to your average reader.

Also, the article failed to mention increased costs Avista incurs to comply with the voter mandate that it produce 20 percent of its power from renewable sources, excluding hydro. More costs were incurred relicensing dams with mitigations sought by environmentalists, tribal nations and other special interest groups that are niceties having nothing to do with producing electricity safely, efficiently and reliably. These are things readers should be told.

And a simple sentence telling how much each Avista customer contributes to chief executive officer pay would put that red herring to bed.

Lastly, there was a graph showing how natural gas costs have declined by about one-third in the last 10 years. No mention was made of the fact that anyone who heats with gas has seen essentially no increase in their total Avista bill over the last 10 years despite the increases in electricity costs.

I don’t work for Avista and never did.

Pat Killien

Spokane