Dale Walker seeks second term on PUD commission

EPHRATA — Incumbent Dale Walker will run for a second term on the Grant County PUD commission.

Walker represents District No. 2, which includes Moses Lake, Warden and the area between the two communities. If he wins, it would be Walker’s second six-year term.

Walker said he’s “been a strong advocate that our utility needs to do a better job of managing its money,” and adds that has improved with the restructuring of some of the PUD’s debt. But Walker said he is “still at odds” with the commissioners and PUD management on the current rate structure.

He’s also a strong supporter of the PUD’s fiber program and supports a continued buildout.

The current rate policy calls for a 10-year series of rate increases that hike rates 2 percent overall each year, although specific rate increases are different for different rate classes.

“I am not a fan” of the philosophy behind it, Walker said.

The PUD finished 2015 with a $72 million net profit, and in those circumstances he thinks rate hikes are unnecessary.

“This utility no more needs rate increases than the man in the moon,” he said.

Walker said rate hikes would be justifiable if the PUD was facing a situation where a much bigger rate increase would be necessary in the future, but he doesn’t think that’s the case. The PUD’s debt will be heavy the next few years, he said, as it borrows money to pay for upgrades to turbines and generators at Priest Rapids Dam. But “long-term, they (debts) go down.”