Snohomish PUD customers demand answers

The meeting at Snohomish PUD HQ started easy enough -- but it didn't take long for things to heat up.

“I represent every single one of these people here, and I’m damn mad,” said customer Dan Williams.

It was an emotional meeting Tuesday night. Customers are upset that their bills have doubled, tripled, or more since the utility switched from bi-monthly to monthly billing.

“My bill went from 220 bucks to $774, why?”

Jim West from Snohomish PUD tried to make the utility's point about using estimated billing.

“What’s new is halfway through that, two months we are going to calculate an estimated bill based on the usage at the home the year before,” said West.

It was a nice attempt but the rate payers weren’t having any of it.

“My bill jumped 90 percent. I used to pay $91 dollars. Two thousand dollars, it’s a damn shame. I didn’t think I’d be in tears up here. You know what this is? What you are doing to people?” said another customer.

The PUD says they want to work with every customer, but looking at Tuesday’s meeting, they'll have plenty of work to do.

Cox Media Group