Which utility companies have drawn the most complaints from Whatcom residents?
Based on the number of consumer complaints filed against regulated companies with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission in 2019, Bellingham residents’ primary concerns were with electric companies, while those elsewhere in the county had issues their telephone service providers.
Whatcom County residents in Bellingham, Ferndale, Lynden, Blaine, Nooksack, Sumas, Everson and Deming combined to file 34 complaints with the commission in 2019, The Bellingham Herald learned in a public records request. All 34 complaints were either made against local electricity companies (20) or telephone companies (14).
No Whatcom complaints were logged against natural gas, water, solid waste or moving companies, the commission reported.
The commission does not track the number of complaints by county, so complete Whatcom County numbers or how those numbers compare against elsewhere in the state were not available.
Among data reported to The Herald by the commission:
▪ Bellingham residents made 18 complaints — 17 against electric companies regarding quality of service concerns (nine), customer service (three), disconnection (four), misapplied payment (one) and disputed bill (one). The other complaint from Bellingham revolved around customer service against a phone company.
▪ Sumas and Everson residents each logged four complaints. Everson had three against electric companies for customer service, disconnection and disputed bills and one for a telephone out-of-service complaint. All four complaints from Sumas, meanwhile, were logged against telephone companies for billing related concerns (three) and quality of service.
▪ All three Ferndale complaints were made against telephone companies for disputed bills (two) and quality-of-service concerns.
▪ Deming residents made two complaints against telephone companies for quality of service and vegetation management.
▪ Lynden, Blaine and Nooksack each had one complaint against telephone companies.
Statewide, there were 899 complaints filed with the commission in 2019 — 44% of them (396) were made against regulated electric and natural gas companies, according to last week’s press release from the commission.
Telephone companies, meanwhile, received 294 complaints (33%), while water, solid waste and moving companies combined to receive 204 complaints (23%) last year, the release stated.
Consumers can file a complaint against a regulated company by calling the Consumer Protection Help Line at 888-333-9882, emailing consumer@utc.wa.gov or visiting utc.wa.gov/fileacomplaint.
