Unitil Takes Its Beating

About 60 people showed up last night to rail at Unitil for what they think are unfair rates and business practices. The Telegram and Sentinel offer up pretty similar details of the evening.

Unitil claims it's stuck with some bad deals in the past that keep rates up. It doesn't really apologize for quick-to-flip-the-switch-off policies regarding late payments. This was a gang-up on Unitil, a situation where the company's only good answer would have been "we're lowering your rates." It won't, so the meeting just added fuel to the fire.

One issue the Sentinel focused on that is important to note: Unitil bills are forcing some people out of the city or not moving here to begin with. There's enough for the city to battle, high utility bills is just another log on that fire.

Will Unitil change? Probably not. Certainly not unless the state gets involved. In the meantime, you had better keep paying that bill on time, because Unitil does not deal lightly with negligent payers.

One last thing that blew us away: One woman said she has a $780 per month Unitil bill for her single-family home. What the hell is she doing to ring up that kind of charge?