Video: AG says PSE wants too much

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OLYMPIA, Wash. - The largest private utility in Washington state has gotten the green light to raise rates for green programs.

Now, it wants more, and Washington's attorney general's office wants consumers to fight back.

Puget Sound Energy won approval Thursday for a 1.56 percent increase in electric rates and .11 of one percent for natural gas. That's $1.34 a month in electricity and 11 cents for gas to pay for energy conservation programs.

But now, the utility wants to raise rates again - nearly 10 percent for electricity, just over five percent for natural gas.

"The public counsel unit with the Attorney General's office has some concerns that what PSE is asking for is too much.  Might be a little bit of a hardship on people's pocketbooks," said Kristin Alexander of the AG's office.

"No one likes to see a rate increase. We don't like to raise rates, but we're being driven by cost increases across the board, so that's what's behind this latest rate increase," said Tom DeBoer, PSE's director of Rate and Regulation.

That's the company line, but in the world of rate increases, it's all about the timing. Ask any rate payer what the timing is like right now.

"I'm about to go in here and pay four dollars a gallon for gasoline, now I have to pay more money to heat my home. I mean, my pockets and wallet are strained as much as they can possibly be," said PSE customer Devin Weitzman.

"Oh I think it's too high too. I mean, with…gas prices the way they are, it seems like there's never an end to it," said customer Maura Barr.

Those are the kinds of comments the Attorney General's Office is hoping for. It's asking for residents to cut out the Public Comment card in your next bill and send it to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission which will rule on the rate increase later this year. It will use them to fight the increase.