My husband and I filed a complaint with Lewis County Superior Court in April.
The lawsuit was dismissed because the process server handed the documents to the wrong secretary at the Lewis County Public Utility District (PUD).
The PUD’s attorney was able to find an obscure case as precedent where the secretary who takes payment of bills is not considered a secretary although the law is vague.
Basically the complaint was dismissed due to a dirty trick by the PUD.
What follows is a letter that I wrote to the PUD management on May 28:
“Dear David Plotz, Ed Rothlin, Michael Kelly and Mike Hadaller,
“I need some of the disclosures listed under RCW 19.29A.020 and 29A.030:
“I particularly need, in a timely manner the following, along with the date that the policies were instituted:
(2) A complete, itemized listing of all rates and charges for which the customer is responsible, including charges, if any, to terminate service, the identity of the entity responsible for setting rates, and an explanation of how to receive notice of public hearings where changes in rates will be considered or approved.
(3) An explanation of the metering or measurement policies and procedures, including the process for verifying the reliability of the meters or measurements and adjusting bills upon discovery of errors in the meters or measurements.
(6) An explanation of the method by which customers must give notice of their intent to discontinue service, the circumstances under which service may be discontinued by the utility, the conditions that must be met by the utility prior to discontinuing service, and how to avoid disconnection.
(8) An explanation of the methods by which customers may make inquiries to and file complaints with the utility, and the utility’s procedures for responding to and resolving complaints and disputes, including a customer’s right to complain about an investor-owned utility to the commission and appeal a decision by a consumer-owned utility to the governing body of the consumer-owned utility.
“I do not currently have a complaint filed, so it is appropriate for me to reach out in an effort to settle our dispute. The behavior of the PUD and the behavior of the individuals named in the complaint that I filed on April 10, 2024, can only be described as bad faith. I am offering you this grace by giving you the chance to do your fiduciary duty and at least make an effort to mend the breach in our contract and act in good faith.
“If your only offer stands, which is to disconnect our electric service on July 1, 2024, if we refuse to accept a Honeywell AMI meter on our home before it has been proven to be safe and secure, please understand that I do not see any benefit to offset the risk I’m taking. Because the PUD’s management and commissioners have refused since October 2023 to answer my questions or address my concerns, if you don’t give me any other avenue to find equity, I will be forced to file another complaint. Very soon, because you have me under a disconnect notice.
“You continue to disturb my peace of mind by refusing to remove the AMR meter that was placed on my home in 2014 without my knowledge or consent. Even the American Cancer Society won’t vouch that RF radiation doesn’t cause disease, so naturally I’m disturbed at the possibility that the offending meter might be making my cancer worse or slowing my healing. Thoughts are real things to me, and your actions are causing me harm, so, yes, there is also a potential tort in your future which makes it your duty to the PUD to try to avoid the tort. If you immediately remove the emitting meter and replace it with an analog meter that is equivalent to the meter that was on my home when we established our contract with the PUD, it will certainly demonstrate good faith. If you ignore this email/letter and make no effort to respond with at least assurances of good faith by the end of the day on May 28, 2024, I will have to conclude that you have no intention of making an effort to remedy the breach of contract that I have been trying to remedy since October 2023. Please understand that time is of the essence.”
Anuttama (Alice) Budd
Glenoma
