Avista increases

Avista is killing me.

Apparently, their idea of Christmas spirit is to send out letters to those of us on the Comfort Level Billing advising us of our yearly increase in what it will cost us to heat and light our homes, two weeks before Christmas!

Merry Christmas, your monthly bill just went up 48%.

If you’ve lived under the overhang of Avista for a few years, you’re used to getting increases. One has to provide a return to investors, after all.

The most interesting part is the method in which they calculate their “revised” costs to the consumer. After adjusting an increase (and a rare decrease) in the monthly billing, they tack on whatever the current bill is at the time of adjusting the average, thereby inflating the monthly cost for the homeowner. Only Avista benefits from this punitive math.

This is just another factor that adds to the number of people who end up living on the streets.

This company should be a public-owned nonprofit, regulated by a Public Utility Commission. Until we are, what we pay each month will continue to go up; sometimes at an alarming rate.

David Bray

Spokane