‘Shock and awe’

EPHRATA — Grant County PUD customers are invited to a commission workshop at 9 a.m. Nov. 21 to discuss electrical rates and rate-setting policy. That invite followed an extensive review of commissioner ideas about rates, rate stability and meeting conduct, among other topics on Tuesday.

Commission chair Nelson Cox directed commissioners to be ready to talk about their ideas for rate-setting policy during a short but tumultuous presentation Oct. 17.

“Last week’s commission workshop was an unprecedented meeting,” said Commissioner Larry Schaapman Tuesday.

A discussion on rates was scheduled for Oct. 17, but Cox canceled that and instead told commissioners to come back Tuesday with ideas on rate setting. Schaapman said Cox’s Oct. 17 actions violated the commission’s policies for conduct.

Cox said he was out of bounds, and he apologized to the people in attendance, particularly the other commissioners. He said there was a purpose behind his conduct.

“Shock and awe,” Cox said.

The chairman said he was trying to get the public’s attention.

The existing rate structure is governed by a resolution, and commissioners are discussing changes to it. That has generated a lot of interest from PUD customers, and Cox said in his opinion the conversations about it haven’t been productive.

“For us to move forward, in my mind, this had to happen,” Cox said.

Cox said Oct. 17 he was in favor of raising the rates charged to industrial and large industrial customers, rate classes 14 and 15, to 7.6 cents per kilowatt hour, which he backpedaled on this week. On Tuesday, he said that statement was designed to get people involved in the discussion.

“I don’t want 7.6 cents, but you’ve got to shock and awe,” he said.

Commissioners each laid out their ideas for rate-setting policy before he spoke.

Tom Flint said Grant County farmers and rural residents spearheaded the formation of the county’s PUD in 1938.

In his opinion the interests of the residential, small businesses and general commercial customers and irrigators (rate classes 1,2,3 and 7) should be considered first, he said. While that’s part of the resolution governing rate structure, the benefit going to those customer classes has deteriorated over time, Flint said.

The existing rate structure includes an analysis of the cost of providing electrical service to each class. Flint said he feels that’s not the best way to do it, and Commissioner Judy Wilson said she agreed.

Wilson said she didn’t feel underlying criteria used by PUD staff to set cost of service don’t fit Grant County.

“The focus on the cost of service as a basis for rates goes beyond what I consider fair or equitable, and something that I have not supported,” Flint said.

Whatever the commission decides to do, rates should establish the largest benefit for core customers, Flint said.

Wilson said she would not support retaining the current resolution governing rates, and that the commission has not decided what the path forward is yet.

Commissioner Terry Pyle said commissioners need to know where the PUD is before they can decide future policy.

“Without knowing where we’ve been and how we got to where we are – what it’s costing us to do business – we can’t accurately and adequately project into the future - we can’t. So the cost of service is a necessary requirement for us, I believe,” he said.

Future policy needs to fit the unique needs of Grant County, Pyle said.

Pyle appealed for more input from county residents.

“I’ll chastise you a little bit,” Pyle said to the audience, which filled the commission hearing room. “Until the balloon went up, nobody was in here talking to us. So come talk to us.”

Grant County is growing and changing, and commissioners need to take that into account when setting rate policy. What works now might not work in five or 10 years, he said.

Schaapman said he feels most customers are satisfied with the current rates.

“From my perspective, it seems most of the anxiety comes around the goalposts in Resolution 8768. I believe we can find common ground superseding 8768 with new goalposts and still use the cost of service as a guide,” Schaapman said.

“To say that we are using industry standards (to analyze the cost of service, we are not. We are using standards that are indicative of this utility structure that we have,” Schaapman said. “And we’ve been building that platform.”

That’s an ongoing effort, he said.

Representatives from multiple industrial companies with a presence in Grant County indicated their concern with the “shock and awe” behavior was that it shows a lack of stability for their business interests and their ability to affordably do business in the county. Outside of the meeting, many of them expressed concern that jobs would leave the area if the PUD did not address their concerns.

Pyle said commissioners need to know the challenges customers are facing as they work on making a decision.

“We are certainly not going to agree on every point from every side,” Pyle said. “We have divergent industries and divergent views, and it’s our job to take those and come up with the best solution we can. But we have to understand what you are facing, concerns that we have. So let us know.

“It’s our job to make those decisions on strategy and rates and those kinds of things,” Pyle said. “And if you’re going to rely on us, it would be a good idea to let us know what you’re facing. We invite public input, the more the better.”

The below letter was read before the Grant County PUD Board of Commissioners during their Oct. 24 meeting during the public comment portion of that public meeting. The letter was penned by Big Bend Community College President Sara Thompson Tweedy and read by BBCC’s Public Information Officer Matt Killebrew:

Dear Commissioners: This is a challenging time and you are tackling complex issues. I am appreciative that each of you have stepped up into a public service role where the accolades and positive feedback do not come often. I appreciate you! And I hope that my letter tells you what you already know... that Grant County needs a diversified economy that respects and protects our agricultural roots while creating and sustaining good, living wage jobs in the industrial/business sector. Big Bend Community College works with agricultural and business/industry leaders from all types of sectors to ensure that employers have a skilled workforce. Big Bend opened our Workforce Education Center in 2020 to ensure that students and employees who needed to upskill trained with industry specific, state of the art equipment. That same year, we also launched our first Bachelor’s Degree program in Applied Management to provide employers with a workforce skilled in management. Eighty-seven percent (87%) of our first cohort of students graduated in June of 2023. Notably one student started in English Language Acquisition classes and another was an adult student who started in our high school for adults program. Their once bleak futures were transformed by education and now by the good paying jobs that allow them to support their families and contribute back to the community in meaningful ways.

Our agricultural community as well as the business/industrial community have all been BIG Big Bend supporters. In our Workforce Education Center as well as in our ATEC building, we have rooms named for the many farmers who built enough wealth to support the educational pursuits of others — a true gift of the heart from which many, many students have benefitted. They also have endowed scholarships. Down the hallways of our buildings, you can also see business and industry names who have donated money for our buildings and also continue to support students with scholarships. Big Bend’s students are the beneficiaries of this diversified economy where individuals from multiple economic sectors have thrived and then, paid their blessings forward.

As you consider (Resolution) 8768 and your rate policy changes, I hope you will bear in mind the direct and dramatic impact that the Grant County PUD has on this diverse ecosystem that is very healthy, but must be delicately balanced. Creating a situation where rates are unpredictable or that substantially raises rates on any one group, will destabilize that economy, Without this diversified economy, jobs dry up, students’ futures dim, and the classrooms and hallways named for beloved community members would go empty. If we keep our economy diversified and healthy, we will continue to reap the harvest that feeds and nurtures the minds and souls of students and community.

Thank you for taking up this challenge! I would be happy to meet or to take a call to provide additional information or support. Sincerely, Dr. Sara Thompson Tweedy

President (Big Bend Community College)