PSE wants to give the powerless a refund
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 | 11:59 am
Puget Sound Energy wants to send a $50 refund to every customer left without power for five or more days due to the storm.
On Thursday, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission will consider the company's request at a public hearing in Olympia.
PSE currently has a “service guarantee” to provide a $50 refund to customers who experience an outage lasting at least 120 consecutive hours. But, under existing rules with the state, there is a cap of 30,000 customers who can receive a refund and the utility firm wants the cap lifted temporarily.
Last week's storms left close to 400,000 customers without power for some period of time. As of Tuesday morning, PSE officials were reporting 27,000 Western Washington customers still without electricity.
In a Monday letter to the commission, Tom DeBoer, PSE's director of federal and state regulatory affairs, wrote:
Due to the unusual triple-header nature of this storm (snow storm followed by freezing rain followed by wind) the Company requests a one-time waiver of certain terms of Schedule 131 to allow PSE to automatically provide a $50 refund to all customers who experienced a 120 consecutive-hour power outage. Specifically, PSE requests that the Commission waive: (i) the requirements that customers either report their outage or request the Guarantee credit (so that PSE can automatically provide the refund); and (ii) the limitation to $1.5 million and 30,000 customers per calendar year, so that the Company can credit the account of all customers that have experienced a 120 consecutive-hour outage in this storm, as reflected in the Company's outage records. The Company also requests that this waiver be effective for this storm only.
You can read the entire letter and accompanying materials here.
The commission, which is seeking public comment on the request, could act in its 9:30 a.m. meeting Thursday in Olympia.
On Thursday, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission will consider the company's request at a public hearing in Olympia.
PSE currently has a “service guarantee” to provide a $50 refund to customers who experience an outage lasting at least 120 consecutive hours. But, under existing rules with the state, there is a cap of 30,000 customers who can receive a refund and the utility firm wants the cap lifted temporarily.
Last week's storms left close to 400,000 customers without power for some period of time. As of Tuesday morning, PSE officials were reporting 27,000 Western Washington customers still without electricity.
In a Monday letter to the commission, Tom DeBoer, PSE's director of federal and state regulatory affairs, wrote:
Due to the unusual triple-header nature of this storm (snow storm followed by freezing rain followed by wind) the Company requests a one-time waiver of certain terms of Schedule 131 to allow PSE to automatically provide a $50 refund to all customers who experienced a 120 consecutive-hour power outage. Specifically, PSE requests that the Commission waive: (i) the requirements that customers either report their outage or request the Guarantee credit (so that PSE can automatically provide the refund); and (ii) the limitation to $1.5 million and 30,000 customers per calendar year, so that the Company can credit the account of all customers that have experienced a 120 consecutive-hour outage in this storm, as reflected in the Company's outage records. The Company also requests that this waiver be effective for this storm only.
You can read the entire letter and accompanying materials here.
The commission, which is seeking public comment on the request, could act in its 9:30 a.m. meeting Thursday in Olympia.
Story tags »
• Economy, Business & Finance • Energy & Resources • Freeze • Ice storm • Snow • WindstormMost recent The Petri Dish posts
- Sullivan won't drop out of special election May 21
- Special election chaos: DelBene, Ruderman join Burner in contest May 18
- Sen. Chase's daughter to run in special election May 15
- Koster 'not inclined' to run in special election May 14
- Councilman Sullivan to run in special congressional election May 13
Comments
(
