Public PUD meetings on 2017 rates set for March 6

EPHRATA — Grant County PUD customers will have a chance to look at – and register their opinion about – the 2017 electric rates at two public meetings March 6. Customers are invited to meetings at 2 p.m. Monday in Ephrata and 6 p.m. in Moses Lake.

The Ephrata meeting will be in the commission meeting room at the PUD’s main office, 30 Southwest C St. The Moses Lake meeting is at the PUD office at 312 West Third Ave.

Utility district commissioners will get their first look at proposed rates during the regular commission meeting March 6. The goal, said financial planning analyst Jeremy Nolan, is for commissioners to approve the new rates at their March 28 meeting and PUD staff to implement them by April 1.

Commissioners and customers will also get a look at the updated “cost of service” analysis, which is part of the information the PUD uses when setting rates. The commissioners have approved the goal of an overall 2 percent rate increase each year through 2024. Rates will vary for individual customer classes, but the overall increase is 2 percent.

Commissioners adopted a policy in 2014 that required all customers to pay at least 80 percent of the actual cost of providing electric service, and pay no more than 15 percent above the actual cost of service. The original cost of service study determined some customer classes, notably residential, irrigation and commercial customers, were paying less than 80 percent of the cost of their service. Other customer classes, large industrial customers being the biggest example, were paying more than 15 above the cost of service.

Speaking at the Feb. 14 commission meeting, Nolan said the original cost of service analysis has been updated. The revenue picture has changed; Nolan cited a five-year deal between the PUD and Shell Energy for the PUD’s share of the output from its two facilities. Changes also are pending in the fees charged to irrigation districts to deliver electricity, Nolan said.

Utility district general manager Kevin Nordt said in an earlier interview the need for more revenue is driven mostly by a project to upgrade generators and turbines at Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams. The two-decade project is about halfway done, with most of the work completed at Wanapum Dam. Work is currently underway on the first of 10 units at Priest Rapids Dam.

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