Gas bill has gone up

I found Pat Killien’s April 4 letter arguing in support of Avista’s rate requests interesting to the point of reconsidering my admittedly knee-jerk reaction against another dang rate increase. Then he wrote, “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.”

We moved to Spokane three winters ago. Electricity? In our last bill we used 6 percent less power than we did in 2013, yet paid exactly the same as we did in 2013. Gas? This last bill compared with the same time period in 2013, we used 5 percent less but paid 15 percent more.

And they want to raise our rates? My income has not raised 15 percent in the last three years. Has yours?

On another note. Can Avista’s chief executive officer say the same? If not, Avista either is trying to perform a magnificent sleight-of-hand (CEO salary does not come from the ratepayers), or they have a huge, unfair public relations problem that needs serious attention.

Kath’ren Bay-Higdon

Spokane