Paying too much for your electric bill? Seattle City Light weighs in on sudden spike
SEATTLE -- Right now, thousands of people in Seattle are paying a lot more than they expected on their electric bill.
"It went from close to $100 to almost $200," said customer Scott Duckworth. "The first thing was damn, I've got to pay an extra $100."
Seattle City Light said they've gotten a lot of calls about the sudden spike, and they want to set the record straight.
City leaders told Q13 News not only did the cold winter play a major role, but there was also a 5 percent rate increase, on top of a 1.5 percent surcharge added to your bill this year.
For the past three months, Seattle City Light also said they've had to estimate more meter-reads than normal.
According to spokesperson Scott Thomsen, they usually estimate about 2 percent of the meters, but this time they say they estimated around 11 percent.
"What this means is for whatever reason, one of our meter readers was not able to physically get to your home and write down the number from the meter itself," said Thomsen.
The city said this summer, they're going to replace the more than 150,000 meters with advanced meters or smart meters, starting in the Ballard area.
"It will eliminate almost all of those instances of estimated reads because the meter will send us the energy consumption," said Thomsen. "We don't have to put a person in your backyard."