Grant PUD commissioners approve 2021 budget

EPHRATA — Grant County PUD electrical billing rates will remain the same in 2021 as they are in 2020.

PUD commissioners unanimously approved a 2021 budget Nov. 24 that did not include any billing increases for any customer. For instance, residential rates will stay at around 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour.

Grant County PUD Public Affairs Officer Christine Pratt said it’s the third consecutive year that electricity billing rates remain unchanged.

Projected expenses are $380.6 million. Pratt said the budget includes projects ranging from a new substation near Royal City to expansion of the PUD’s fiber-optic network. The PUD will continue a project to upgrade all turbines and generators at Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams.

PUD financial analyst John Mertlich said the budget projects about 4.1% growth in customer demand annually through 2030, lower than earlier projections.

Mertlich said it’s a reflection of updated budget forecasting methods, as well as slower than anticipated growth for large industrial customers. It also shows the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and reduced demand from cryptocurrency customers.

Pratt said power production, the costs associated with producing electricity, account for about 39% of total budgeted expenses. Power delivery, maintaining and building the lines and substations that deliver electricity, account for about 22% of expenses.