PUD offers workshop to study service costs

Meeting takes place Wednesday

GRANT COUNTY - The Grant County Public Utilities District holds a public workshop next week to study electrical costs and determine the utility's future revenue requirements.

PUD commissioners host the second of three public workshops Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the district's headquarters building, located at 30 C St. S.W., in Ephrata.

"It's really to analyze the cost of providing electrical service to each one of our rate categories, for instance, residential, commercial, industrial, irrigation," district Communications Manager Sarah Morford said. "Determining how much it costs to serve each one of those different types of customers."

The last study was conducted in 1997.

"Really, it's important to do on a regular basis so we can get a sense of any adjustments which may need to be made or determining how else we might need to generate some revenue," Morford explained.

The first workshop discussed plans for the study, and the workshop Wednesday provides a status update of what has been determined so far. The results will be discussed in a final workshop with commissioners in October.

The workshops study electrical costs per customer class and determine the utility's future revenue requirements.

Commissioners and staff are working with Economic and Financial Strategies, Inc., of Issaquah, to complete the analysis. The workshop explains the plans for the study and provides a status update.

Morford said public comment will be taken, but the goal of the meeting is to determine and share information discovered so far.