Washington’s attorney general is opposing, in a court filing, a federal power agency’s plan to change a formula that helps hold down electric bills for customers of three big utilities. Attorney General Nick Brown’s office said on Sept. 29 that it filed an amicus brief opposing a Bonneville Power Administration plan that could raise rates for customers of Avista, PacifiCorp and Puget Sound Energy. The office says bills could rise by as much as 4 percent.
What the attorney general says
The brief was filed in Avista et al. v. Bonneville Power Administration et al. The attorney general’s news release does not name the court or give a case schedule. It says Bonneville plans to change the formula it uses to calculate Residential Exchange Program funds, and that the change could reduce the benefits customers get.
Brown said in the release: “The last thing customers need right now is the threat of yet another increase in prices.” His office argues that customers of private utilities already pay more on average than customers of public utilities, and should not be asked to cover more during what it calls an affordability crisis…