Grant PUD finishes 2022 in the black

EPHRATA —The Grant County PUD both generated more revenue and spent more in 2022 than the forecasts in its 2022 budget.

John Mertlich, senior manager of financial planning and analysis, said the PUD finished the year about $90.4 million in the black. The 2022 budget projected the PUD would finish the year with about $76 million in the black.

The higher revenues were due to increases in retail and wholesale revenues, as well as sales to other power purchasers, according to information presented to PUD commissioners.

“Overall retail loads were 9.5% higher than the same period in 2021, driven by increases in residential, commercial and industrial customers, offset by decreases in irrigation,” according to the presentation.

“In the case of commercial and industrial customers, most of that impact was price-related,” Mertlich said. “That’s because a number of those customers are on a rate schedule that had some pricing associated with the wholesale market price.

“Wholesale prices have gone up significantly versus what we thought at the time of the budget,” he said.

“There are a number of factors impacting that price,” he said. “But for the most part, where we saw a really significant uptick was in the summer. Once we hit the heat of summer, the (wholesale) prices never really came back down.”

Expenses went up too, a reflection of inflation and of some decisions made by PUD management.

“Our direct capital (expenses) were up $18.4 million. The primary driver of that capital increase was the right embankment project (at Priest Rapids Dam),” Mertlich said. “There was some cost increase from supply chain (issues) and inflation. But the majority of that cost was us speeding up the delivery of that project. It was a conscious management decision.”

The riverbank on the Yakima County side of the river is being reinforced to reduce the risk of erosion. A study of the embankment determined it could be at risk of damage in the case of a major earthquake, 6.0 or higher on the Richter scale.

“That project is right next to the (Wanapum) Village, and the idea was, the sooner we can get that project done, we shorten the period of impact on the village,” Merltich said. “Another (reason) was the management realization that as we let projects go longer, they’re exposed to inflation.”

Expenses also were higher for the project to extend the PUD’s fiber optic backbone into more areas of the county. Mertlich said the project experienced some cost increases due to inflation. In addition, the project budget was built with the assumption that the fiber would be installed on overhead lines, he said.

“They’ve run into quite a few areas where they’ve had to go underground or do a lot more work,” he said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.