The UTC's Consumer Protection Help Line receives complaints from customers who have been unable to resolve an issue with their utility company. These informal complaints are investigated by UTC staff and recorded in the Consumer Complaint Database.

Complaints By Company or Industry

To look up the complaint history and recorded violations for a regulated utility or transportation company, search below by industry or company name.

This shows the number of complaints received by the UTC for each industry. By clicking on the industry, you can see the number of complaints received for each industry by year.

This shows the number of complaints each company received by year. By clicking on the year, you can see a summary of the types of complaints received by the UTC in each year.

This page details the types of complaints the UTC investigates.

Violations

When UTC staff investigate an informal complaint, there is a requirement to make sure the company is following the rules. If the investigation finds the company did not follow the rules, staff will record an alleged violation(s) of the law, rules, or the company's approved tariff provisions. The statistics provided is this section show the number of alleged violations recorded against each regulated company by year.

Outcomes

What does company upheld and customer upheld mean?

  • Consumer Upheld: This means UTC staff found the actions of the company to be improper and staff is upholding the consumer's position. Staff may use "Consumer Upheld" even if it does not find violations within the complaint.
  • Company Upheld: This means staff finds the company acted properly towards the consumer's issues. As a result of the complaint investigation, the company will not, nor is required to, resolve the complaint differently. Simply put, the company was right and the investigation gained nothing for the consumer.
  • Company Upheld with Arrangements: This means staff upholds the company's action (see "Company Upheld" above) and the company went beyond what it was required to do for the customer as a result of the complaint investigation. For example:
    • The company gave a monetary credit; and/or
    • Staff negotiated arrangements, such as:
    • Payment arrangements on past due amounts that exceed those required;
    • Waiving a deposit that the company was allowed to require; and/or
    • Scheduling an earlier installation date.
    • NOTE: "Company Upheld with Arrangements" will not be used if the company has incurred violations of rule, statute, order or tariff that affect the substance of the complaint outcome.
  • EXAMPLE: Mary received a back bill for the period of January through March 2010. The three back bills were cause for staff to record three violations each of WAC 480-90-178(e) and (f) for a total of six violations. Staff was able to arrange a six month payment arrangement for the customer instead of only the three months required and offered by the company prior to the complaint being investigated. The outcome is company upheld with arrangements.