More Seattleites could get utility discounts
A new Seattle City Council plan would give thousands more people a discount on utilities. Two bills to do that were advanced at the committee level on Tuesday.
Currently, people who live in federally subsidized housing are excluded from Seattle's Utility Discount Program (UDP). The legislation would change that and automatically enroll them for discounts.
Councilmember Kshama Sawant proposed the idea, with support from colleagues like Mike O'Brien.
As they voted it through committees Tuesday, O’Brien said: “This is great work, it's great to help alleviate folks that are living in poverty, and I just think it's going to be an outstanding step forward for so many folks that will benefit from it."
The full council still needs to approve the plan.
It would enroll 10,000 more residents in the utility discount program, making the total 30,000 in the UDP. That surpasses Mayor Ed Murray’s goal to have 28,000 enrolled by 2018.
The council legislation would also mean rate increases for the majority of customers. Seattle Public Utilities estimates it would add $13 a year to the average utility bill (an average 0.62 percent increase). Seattle City Light estimates a 0.5 percent increase.
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Paige Browning
Newscaster
Paige hosts midday newscasts and monitors news of significance to the Puget Sound region. She hopped over Washington’s mountains to join KUOW, after hosting news and reporting at Spokane Public Radio since 2011. She began her start in radio while a journalism student at University of Montana, by sharing stories with KUFM. Paige was raised in the mountains and rivers around Spokane. In her spare time she cheers on the Mariners in the summer, and hopes for snow in the winter.
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