City Light Superintendent Gary Zarker had warned the Seattle City Council that additional increases would be necessary when its members approved an 18 percent increase in March. Even so, utility officials and council members had hoped rain and electricity prices would begin falling before they'd have to jack up the rates. But neither happened. For council members, the decision is not whether to raise rates but how to spread the increase around. Councilwoman Heidi Wills, chairwoman of the Energy and Environmental Policy Committee, said she favors a structure that would charge much higher rates to customers who use the most electricity.
Wills also favors exempting low-income families from the rate increases.
With such decisions unsettled, the exact hit on the average family remains up in the air. City Light raised rates 10 percent on New Year's Day and 18 percent in March. The projected 22 percent increase in December is because of the higher rates being charged by the Bonneville Power Administration. City Light won't know exactly how much more they will have to pay the BPA for power until the end of the month. Wills said council members may restructure the increases, increasing rates more in July so customers won't get nailed with a 22 percent increase just before Christmas.