BELLEVUE, Wash. -- When the State Attorney General warns you about a notice in your energy bill, you tend to pay attention.

An alert this week about Puget Sound Energy is already generating calls and letters. And that's exactly what the state is looking for.

PSE wants to raise rates, and go private with foreign investors. The notice in the April billing is your chance to sound off.

The Attorney General's office is concerned about how PSE's plans will affect more than 1.5 million consumers in Western Washington.

For the first time, the state is using monthly bills to give you all the details. There are two separate pages. One breaks down the request for big increases in gas and electricity rates. The other explains a proposal to sell PSE to a private consortium of investors in the U.S., Canada and Australia.

Kay Benoit of Woodinville caught that right away.

"Puget Sound Energy will not be a public company any more. It'll be off the stock exchange, we'd have no exchanges," said Benoit. "The whole thing just sends up flares to me, and we're told so little these days, government-wise."

The notice includes a comment card for customers to give input.

"I don't think people will even see this! Because see, all of this stuff came with the bill!" Benoit explained, pointing to the stack of marketing and other inserts that came in her electric bill this week.

Benoit is concerned people will simple toss it all.

State regulators do not want that to happen. They've planned three public hearings starting next month, and if you can't make the hearings, the comment card is your chance to give input on two critical decisions that will effect what you pay for gas electricity, and potentially what kind of service you'll get in the future.

The State Utilities and Transportation Commission will hold the first public hearing on May 15th in Bellevue. A second hearing will be held May 20th in Bellingham, with a final hearing at the WUTC headquarters in Olympia on June 4th.

For more information:
www.atg.wa.gov