PUD opts out of meter-reader contract
Company changes ownership; district changes its mind
Grant County PUD commissioners rescinded a controversial contract with a company that was to provide automated meter reading equipment.
The rescindment means the PUD will send back all the equipment and software it purchased from Canadian company Nertec Design Inc.
"We discussed it with the team and decided we didn't want to go forward," Alex Ybarra, PUD team leader for the automated-meter-reader project, told commissioners at their business meeting Monday afternoon.
Commissioners had approved a release of $96,856 last month from sequestered telecommunications funds to pay for 750 automated meter readers, which allow PUD employees to read meters remotely.
The automated-meter-reader program has been touted as a way to take advantage of fiber-optics for use in the power system.
Ybarra said Nertec is undergoing a change in ownership and will in effect become a new company. The rescindment will not cost the PUD any money, he said.
The automated-meter-reader contract came under fire because PUD staff had accepted the meter readers under a contract that had not yet been approved by the PUD commission.
A contract for $480,887 was later approved by the commission in 2003, but Nertec disagreed with the terms of the performance bond and refused to send more equipment.
According to yesterday's action, the PUD reserves all legal rights against Nertec related to the original contract.
Commission President Tom Flint said that after all the PUD has been through with the contract, putting an end to the matter is good.
In other news:
— Commissioners approved a declaration of intent to issue bonds or notes to reimburse the PUD for capital improvement to the Wanapum Dam. Improvements to the dam in 2004 came from reserve money, supplemental funds and current bond proceeds.
The action does not commit the PUD to a 2005 bond issue but rather ensures the PUD has the option to reimburse itself in that manner, according to PUD spokesman Gary Garnant.
The PUD expects to issue about $127.2 million in bonds and notes for this purpose in 2005.
— Commissioners approved a a $235,037 contract with Timberline Helicopters Inc. for helicopter transport of juvenile salmon in tanks.
Helicopters will be used in 2004 to released tagged study salmon at four spots in the mid-Columbia River during spring spill testing at Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams.
— Commissioners approved an agreement with the state Department of Corrections to provide a work crew to pick up litter at recreation areas included within the Priest Rapids Hydroelectric Project following holiday weekends and large concerts.
The contract includes up to $10,000 for services, and the PUD will contribute $200 per workday for a work crew.
— Commissioners approved a transfer of one-third of the funds identified for insurance-related investigations in the PUD's electric system to the hydro system. The PUD will allocate $10,000 of the $30,000 investigations funds for 2004 for any such work required at the Priest Rapids Hydroelectric Project.