The News Tribune Business Team will keep you updated on what's happening in the South Sound and beyond. Check here for news about economic development, aerospace, shopping and much more.
Talk to us
Got something to say? Here's the place to say it. We welcome your comments on what's going on in business in the South Sound that we should be discussing, reporting or analyzing here on our blog or in the pages of The News Tribune.
Contributors
Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
- All
- Aerospace (1477)
- Banking (179)
- Commercial Real Estate (145)
- Consumer Alert (28)
- Downtown Tacoma (225)
- Economic Development (273)
- Employment/Workplace (283)
- Food (32)
- General (1920)
- Labor (178)
- Port and trade (275)
- Residential Real Estate (77)
- Restaurants (145)
- Retail (63)
- Shopping (320)
- Technology (133)
- Tourism (742)
- Your view (7)
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | > >> | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | |||||
- October 2009 (59)
- September 2009 (83)
- August 2009 (109)
- July 2009 (98)
- June 2009 (107)
- May 2009 (108)
- April 2009 (124)
- March 2009 (100)
- February 2009 (95)
- January 2009 (112)
- December 2008 (100)
- November 2008 (101)
- More...
XML Feeds- brianinptown
- mikebednarczyk
- pcoddin
- Guest Users: 507
Even if you don't care, the state Attorney General's office does.
Puget Sound Energy wants to raise the rates customers pay for electricity, up an estimated 12 percent, and natural gas, up 6 percent.
The utility filed a request with the Utilities and Transportation Commission in December 2007 to take in an additional $174.5 million in revenues from electric customers and $56.7 million from gas customers. In addition, PSE has requested to raise the monthly base charge, which all customers pay regardless of usage, by nearly $3 for electric customers and $10 for gas customers.
“We’re concerned with the data we have seen so far from PSE and believe the requested increases are excessive,” said Public Counsel Chief Simon ffitch, who represents the public interest for the state Attorney General.
Ffitch advises that customers receiving their April/May utility bill from PSE should note the attached comment card - and fill it out.
“The new comment cards are a great way for customers to voice their opinions to the state Utilities and Transportation Commission, which has the final say on whether to approve Puget Sound Energy’s proposals,” ffitch said Monday.
In addition, customers will be able to comment on PSE’s proposed sale to an international consortium of investors from Australia, Canada, and the U.S. If the $7 billion deal is completed, PSE will no longer be a publicly traded company.
Based in Bellevue, the utility serves more than one million electric customers and 725,000 gas customers in Western Washington.
The UTC will make the final decision on both the proposed rate increases and the merger. For the UTC to approve the merger, it must find that the sale is in the public interest and will not cause harm to PSE’s customers.
The commission has also scheduled public hearings in Bellevue, Bellingham and Olympia to consider customer comments. The Olympia meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 4 at the UTC office, 1300 S. Evergreen Park Dr. S.W.
In addition to the public hearings and comment cards, customers can also submit comments via e-mail at comments@wutc.wa.gov or they may call the UTC toll-free at 800-562-6150.
