SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — One side effect of the stay at home order is a lot of people are using their houses as work spaces. Having more people people inside more often, means there is potential for higher energy use.
Avista's Director of Energy Efficiency, Anna Scarlett said the company is expecting power usage to rise during the stay at home order.
More energy use equates to higher bills for customers. But Scarlett says customers won't start seeing those changes until bills for March and April are dispersed.
"We want to encourage anybody whose concerned about their bill or having problems to call us. And we'll work with each customer's kind of unique situation," she said.
While Avista is helping their customers through this tough time, they say there is a lot every household can do to keep their energy use down and avoid unexpected high bills.
Some of those things include keeping household thermostats at 68 degrees, unplugging electronics that aren't being used, doing full loads of laundry and dishes, changing furnace and air conditioning filters, and keeping water heaters set to 120 degrees.
Anyone with an Avista account can also track usage history to help determine how much more or less energy they have used any given month.
Scarlett said the warmer spring temperatures could also help offset customers energy usage, as people turn off their furnaces for the season.