Grant PUD spending projected to increase in 2024
The Grant County PUD expects to spend about $347.2 million in 2024, an increase from 2023. Wanapum Dam, one of two power plants operated by the PUD, is pictured.
FILE PHOTO
EPHRATA — The Grant County PUD expects to spend about $347.2 million, after counting other revenue against expenditures, and finish 2024 with a bottom line of about $118.6 million. Utility district commissioners will approve a budget in November, and PUD officials reviewed the budget projections for customers in public presentations in mid-October.
Retail energy sales are projected to be about $313.3 million for 2024, an increase from 2023, driven in part by an overall 3% increase in retail electrical rates.
Chief Customer Officer Ty Ehrman said in an Oct. 20 interview that commissioners still have to decide what the rates will be for 2024.
“We are working with the commission right now to understand what our short-term goal is for a rate increase in 2024, get that determined, get that in place,” Ehrman said. “The commission is trying to decide right now what exactly that percentage (will be). We’ve presented them with two different scenarios when it comes to percent increases — two and a half percent, and 3%.”
At-cost sales to power purchasers also are projected to increase, to $16.9 million. Net wholesale and other power revenue is projected to decrease, however, to $90.2 million. A revenue increase is projected for the PUD’s fiber optic network, to $13.5 million.
The 2023 budget anticipated the PUD would spend about $317 million, but Chief Financial Officer Bonnie Overfield said in the Oct. 10 budget hearing that expenditures are running below the budget projections.
“For 2023 we’re actually outperforming our budgets, meaning we’re spending less than we had budgeted,” she said.
“Capital is a little bit different because it’s very project-driven,” Overfield said.
Projected capital projects in 2024 include upgrading the turbines and generators at Priest Rapids Dam. The upgrades at Priest Rapids began in 2016; each of the 10 generator-turbine combinations takes about 14 months to complete.
Utility district officials will start working on the relocation of the PUD maintenance yard in Ephrata in 2024. Project design is scheduled for 2024-25, with construction expected to begin sometime in 2025 and be completed in 2027. The new maintenance facility, called a “service center,” will be built southwest of Ephrata on a larger lot than the existing facility off Nat Washington Way.
Finishing the buildout of the PUD’s fiber network is projected for 2024. That will be the end of a project started in 2008.
Construction of the Red Rock transmission line to the Royal City area is planned for 2024. A transmission line is scheduled for relocation in the Stratford Road-Larson area, and the Ruff substation near Moses Lake is scheduled for upgrades.
Additional work is planned on the left embankment at Priest Rapids Dam.
Construction of a transmission line from Wanapum Dam to Quincy is planned for 2024.
Each division of the PUD has goals for the year. Those include improved customer service, work on developing techniques to meet the requirements of Washington’s carbon initiatives, developing a long-term power contract structure for industrial and large industrial customers and increased training for employees. Utility district officials also want to work on developing apprenticeship and continuing education programs to help employees qualify for new jobs.
Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.