Commissioners and employees to blame

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, January 29, 2002

The current situation the PUD finds itself in, and the inflated rates its ratepayers are being forced to pay, are the direct fault of its commissioners and its employees. I don’t believe that these were mistakes. I believe the rate hikes were done as a money grab, because the commissioners and employees both know that an annual rate increase is out of the question. The “energy crisis” was an excuse.

I attended two public meetings regarding rate increases for the Snohomish County PUD. I heard PUD employees bragging that if they could get the rates, they would spend the money. I heard an employee tell commissioners that the PUD had been shielded from most of the effects of the energy market. I saw all three commissioners still rubber-stamp unprecedented and unnecessary rate increases. I see them collecting more money than necessary now. Perhaps we need an irate ratepayers association.

Sultan