Grant PUD commissioners approve rate increase

WANAPUM DAM — Grant County electrical rates will go up by an average of 2 percent, although the actual rate will be different for different customer classes, beginning April 1. Grant County PUD commissioners voted 3-2 to approve the proposed increases at the regular meeting Tuesday.

Commissioners Tom Flint and Dale Walker voted no. Commissioner Bob Bernd wasn’t at the meeting, but he had given his proxy vote to commissioner Terry Brewer, who cast both as yes votes. Commissioner Larry Schaapman also voted yes.

Residential rates will go up by 1.6 percent. Rates for general service customers (retail businesses as an example) will go up by 2.1 percent and by 3.4 percent for irrigators. Large general service customers will have a 1 percent increase. Rates for large industrial customers (Class 15) will increase by 0.7 percent. Industrial customers (Class 14) and ag food processors (Class 16) each will see a 5 percent rate increase.

Walker said he opposed the rate increases because, as far as he could tell, the PUD continues to increase the amount of cash it has on hand. Until he saw a change in the cash position he would oppose a rate increase, he said.

Brewer said it may look like there’s more cash, but “most of our cash is encumbered,” already allocated to various projects. Those include upgrades to turbines and generators at Priest Rapids Dam, and obligations of its operating license that haven’t been completed yet.

General manager Kevin Nordt said the amount of cash available for operations is about $160 million in a contingency fund, which is slightly higher than the target, obtained by reinvesting the interest received. The PUD also has about $35 million available in “liquid working capital,” Nordt said.

Flint said he has opposed the current rate structure, “and I continue to do that.” In his opinion “it redistributes the benefits to the large industrial customers.” He’s not against large industrial customers, he said; they buy power that otherwise would have to be sold on the wholesale market, which is not generating the kind of returns it used to.

Schaapman said he supports the current policies driving rate structure, which is, he said, “a scientific and mathematical approach to setting rates.” In addition, the Grant County PUD system is very reliable, he said, and there’s value for customers in that.

Tuesday’s meeting was at Wanapum Dam. Flint proposed delaying approval of the rate resolution until the next meeting, to be held in Ephrata. Schaapman asked why. Flint said setting rates is among the commission’s most important tasks, and he was reluctant to take the vote at Wanapum Dam, which in his opinion isn’t as accessible as Ephrata.

“It is unfortunate that we are doing it (voting) here (at Wanapum Dam),” Brewer said, but the vote was pushed back from the March 14 meeting to allow more time for public input. “I don’t see that we’re causing any customer grief here.” Commissioners had agreed on a timeline, Brewer said, and should stick to it.

Walker said he understood Brewer’s point of view, but agreed with Flint that Wanapum Dam was the wrong place to take the vote, regardless of whether customers had enough time to register their opinions. “I believe we have had ample time for folks to comment,” Schaapman said.

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