Walker announces run for second term on PUD board

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. During his first campaign he said he would run for a second term, “so that’s what I’ll do.”

Walker said he’s “been a strong advocate that our utility needs to do a better job of managing its money,” and in his opinion that’s 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.”

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.”

Under those circumstances, if customers ask if the PUD needs rate increases that will amount to 20 percent at the end of the 10 years, “the answer is, no, we don’t.”

Walker explains he was a strong supporter of the wireless fiber program before he was elected to the commission, and he’s still a supporter. In his opinion PUD administrators are contending the utility doesn’t need to pursue extending the fiber network, “and I don’t think that’s the case.”

The PUD is building a series of wireless towers, but Walker said in his opinion the wireless system won’t replace the fiber. In addition, it’s being built in areas where there will be fiber eventually, he said, rather than areas that are difficult or expensive to reach with fiber.

Currently the PUD is focusing on adding customers to the fiber system, Walker said. But “we have a deep obligation to continue on with that fiber buildout.” The commission directed the system should generate enough money to pay for depreciation and maintenance, “and it still is.” Walker acknowledged it will be more expensive to extend the service into rural areas, but said he thinks it’s generating enough money to pay for it. Customers have supported fiber, and in his opinion it’s important to keep working on it.

The current commissioners work well together, even when they don’t agree. “We seem to remain civil and have been over the last six years.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.