20160727Comment.pdf

Jean Jewell
From:Jean Jewell
Sent:Wednesday,July 27,2016 2:00 PM
To:Jean Jewell
Subject:FW:Case Comment Form:GW Dyer
Original Message
Na me:GW Dyer
Case Number:AVU-E-16-03
Email:N/A
Telephone:[phone]
Address:738 Meadow View Rd
St.Manes Idaho,83861
Name of Utility Company:Avista Utilities
Comment:Avista wants a price increase just like the last go around.They send out these little brochures or pamphlets
and they make it sound like it’s no big deal that they’re going to be increasing people’s bills by $6 to $9 a month.By the
same token,when you get that bill they want donations to help others pay their bill.If they’ve got that many who can’t
pay their bill and they have to ask for donations to help pay these bills,that should tell them their rates are too high.We
have farms in different states and I have a good comparison for electric prices,and Avista is outrageous.They want price
increases but from the outside looking in,they mismanage their operations.The waste of money,giving away free of
Toyotas in Spokane,they’ve got Avista Stadium,they sponsor different ballparks.They really don’t need to do this
because everyone knows who Avista is and most people have no option when it comes to choice of power suppliers.
There’s no reason for advertising and promotional efforts other than the 811 digline,and I think that’s free to them.
Anything they need to do to communicate to the public can be done with fliers in their bills like they’re doing.This is a
big waste of money.All of their giveaways are in Spokane and eastern Washington,they really don’t do anything for
north Idaho and yet we’re the ones they want to pay their price increase.They need to quit spending on that
promotional stuff and put money back into their power lines and transformers.There are frequent outages in north
Idaho and they always have an array of excuses from wildlife on their poles to domestic livestock.The last one was that
there was a bull who used their guide wires for scratching.First it was a pole so they put cement barricades around it.
Common sense would tell you that the next place the bull is going to go is the guide wires.If you’re having problems
with power lines,bury them.Also,Avista employees drive expensive trucks and have two guys on a truck getting union
wages just driving around.With a little better management and not wasting money on promotions,they could get along
just fine without a price increase.In Benewah County,70 to 80 percent of the people are below the poverty below,and
a $6 to $9 increase is a huge increase.
Unique Identifier:10.10.1.19
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