Grant PUD commissioners rethink rate increase

EPHRATA — Some Grant County PUD commissioners are rethinking their positions about an approved 6 percent rate increase.

After being presented with updated financial forecasts, commissioners asked staff to bring back figures showing what a 6 percent increase would look like starting in April, and a report showing a 6 percent increases starting in April for residential users only, said Sarah Morford, a commission spokesperson.

Last week, commissioners approved 6 percent rate increases starting in February.

The district’s budget still needs to be approved and how the rate increase is allocated across customer groups, she explained.

Commission President Bob Bernd said he thought they could cut the increase down to 5 percent and impose a residential increase for April, given the projections they saw.

The district would still have $122 million in reserves and between $35-$39 million in the construction fund.

Commissioner Terry Brewer said last week that the commission hasn’t seen update forecasts and the November year-end expenditure report.

He also said there’s “fluff’ that could be cut from the budget.

Culbertson said more cuts would mean certain work wouldn’t get done.

Commissioner Greg Hansen said he would like to see a rate reduction, but to approve a reduction before the budget was approved was like putting the cart before the horse.

“We better find out where it’s going to come from,” Hansen said.

Commissioner Randy Allred said he agreed with Hansen, in that the reserve and contingency fund was getting less that last year.

Allred said he didn’t want an increase, but wanted a balanced budget.

Three people spoke against the rate increase, either asking it be a lower amount or that it start later in the year.

Lon Topaz, of REC Silicon, asked that the increase start April 1, instead of in February, and that it be applied across the board.

Darel Olson, of Moses Lake, asked commissioners what years were considered low-water years.

Bernd said the low-water years were 2009 and 2010.

Culbertson said they arrived at their conclusion by examining an 80-year water history. The last two years have been among the 10 worst years.

Olson asked commissioners if they felt it was fair to pass such an increase on to consumers. He suggested a moderate increase of perhaps 2 percent to compensate for the inflation rate.

Gary Ash, of National Frozen Foods in Moses Lake, said the increase was coming at the company during a terrible time.

Their hope is that the PUD would moderate the rate hikes and lower rates.

“I think this community will suffer with this increase,” he said.

Ash said he didn’t understand why the district didn’t see this coming and spread out the increase.