Grant PUD rate increase is shared

MOSES LAKE — Many residents of Grant County are unaware of what has happened recently at the Grant County PUD. For the first time in over 20 years, residents are not at the top of the rate increase list. This time, instead of an across the board percentage increase, which would have been 4 percent for all groups, after a hard-fought battle, the PUD commissioners decided on a $0.001155 per kilowatt hour increase to each customer rate schedule, except for the streetlight rate class.

What does this mean? It means the rate gaps between residential and industrial will remain the same; not double the amount for residential as compared to some other schedules. The average rate for residential will be 2.8 percent. People with a monthly power bill of $50 or less will see an increase of 2 percent or less, around $1.05 per month. A monthly power bill around $100 will see a 3 percent increase, around $3 per month. This may not seem like much of a victory for one year, but over a four year period it starts adding up to a substantial savings.

We need to thank the Citizen’s Committee for Public Power and all the people who attended the rate hearings. Without them, my guess is, this would have never happened. A warning at this time is that the fight will continue next fall. Two PUD commissioners are coming up for election/re-election this year. Find out where each candidate stands before voting. We have over 36,000 residential customers; we can carry an election. When asked why the rate increase in necessary, I quote the news release from the PUD, “The largest drivers for the rate increase include the replacement of ageing infrastructure at Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams, requirements associated with our new, long-term license and capital projects tied to electric system growth and reliability. To date, more than $300 million has been spent in support of these projects with an additional $800 million in borrowing anticipated over the next five years.”

It’s nice to know that the rate increase will be shared equally in this rebuild process, at least for one year.