By: Caleb Heeringa, Senior Press Secretary, Beyond Coal
Thanks to advocacy by Sierra Club volunteers and dozens of partner groups, Washington state’s private energy utilities are prohibited through April 2021 from cutting off access to electricity or heat or charging late fees if customers can’t pay. But there’s more work to do to ensure that utilities don’t pass the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic on to low-income families and small businesses in our state.
On Dec. 10, the Washington state Utilities and Transportation Commission will consider utilities’ request to begin tracking the costs they’re incurring from not being able to charge late fees for non-payment - the first step towards raising rates on all of their customers to make up the difference.
Private utilities make incredible amounts of profit from their customers. An analysis by Puget Sound Sage found that Puget Sound Energy, Avista, PacifiCorp, Northwest Natural, and Cascade Natural Gas paid a combined $446 million in profit to shareholders and top executives in 2019. Rather than raise rates on customers during a time of unprecedented economic dislocation, these utilities could easily share in the sacrifice and cover any COVID-related costs.
Even before this pandemic struck, an estimated 15 million people in this country - including a disproportionate number of those in Black, Indigenous, and communities of color - had difficulty affording utility services. 1 in 5 US households reported reducing or forgoing necessities such as food and medicine to pay an energy bill. Nationwide, utility bills are one of the top reasons that people take out predatory payday loans.
These energy burdens have only worsened during a pandemic that has had an outsized impact on the financial security and health of Black, Indigenous and communities of color. Nearly a million Washingtonians are now receiving food assistance, up 17% from February.
In a full-page advertisement in the Nov. 15 Seattle Times, the Sierra Club and 29 other environmental, labor and racial justice organizations called for the Utilities and Transportation Commission to protect customers from having to pay higher rates due to the pandemic. At a time when the pandemic has forced us to spend more time at home, ALL Washingtonians deserve access to energy that is clean, safe and affordable.
To get involved, visit: https://addup.sierraclub.org/campaigns/tell-washington-regulators-put-people-over-utility-profits