Dori: Seattle City Light customers, check your payment history
Oct 16, 2019, 4:55 PM
Seattle City Light is being sued over massive electricity bills.
A Seattle law firm is suing Seattle City Light, for using inaccurate estimates instead of taking readings. Customers ended up with electric bills as high as $1,000.
This is a case of taxation without representation for everyone who does not live in Seattle, but is still a Seattle City Light customer, like me. Their service area includes not just Seattle, but Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Tukwila, Renton, Lake Forest Park, Shoreline, and parts of unincorporated King County.
Seattle City Light costs taxpayers millions with math mistake
Those of us who live in those suburbs did not get a vote in who goes on the Seattle City Council, but we must still pay our hard-earned dollars to this Seattle agency.
When I heard about this lawsuit, I looked up my City Light payment history for the last year. The bills run in two-month cycles.
In August, my bill was $559. In June, it was $600. April was $628.
February was $1,017. For electricity.
Back then, one of our kids was living at home, but I highly doubt that was the difference. This doesn’t make any sense to me. We don’t even have electric heat — we have natural gas. I like watching a little TV at night, sure, but that can’t be it.
You can bet that I will be checking with this attorney who is suing Seattle City Light. In fact, I suggest that everybody go over their bills really carefully. I’m going to see if they are indeed estimating my bill inaccurately.
I always get those mailers that say things like, “Your electricity usage is higher than 92 percent of your neighbors.” I always thought that sounded off, but now I’m convinced that information is false.
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