Grant PUD meets most 2023 financial targets

EPHRATA — The Grant County Public Utility District expects to finish the buildout of its fiber network in 2024, along with a project to upgrade some of its transmission, distribution and substation components. That was among the information included in the PUD’s annual report, released Monday. 

The PUD met most of its financial targets in 2023, according to the report.

It had more available cash than required to meet its short-term needs, the report said, and was beating its target on using its assets to generate earnings. Its debt in relation to its assets met the target, also meeting the target when it came to having enough money to meet its debts. 

Its credit rating was evaluated as “very high.” However, it missed the target when it came to expenses in relation to its retail sales. 

As of December 2023, Grant County PUD customers paid 5.8 cents per kilowatt hour for their electricity, compared to 11 cents per kWh in Washington and 15.73 cents per kWh nationally. 

The fiber project has been ongoing since 2000; Grant County PUD commissioners voted in 2018 to finish the project, with a target date of 2024. According to the report, as of the end of 2023, the system currently has about 29,500 subscribers, more than half the approximate 40,600 eligible subscribers. 

Among the last sections scheduled for completion in 2024 are an area east of Mattawa, Wilson Creek and a section of Stratford Road east of Moses Lake. 

The substation upgrades were designed to meet expected load growth primarily among large commercial and industrial customers, the report said. It started in 2019; the first upgrade was completed in mid-2021. Two new substations were added in 2022, one new and one upgraded substation in 2023. Four new substations are scheduled for 2024. Total project costs as of the end of 2023 was $104 million.

The second phase of a project to build additional transmission capacity into the Quincy area is scheduled for 2024. The project will more than double the load limit in Quincy, raising it from about 300 megawatts to about 650.

The planning phase is scheduled for 2024. When construction begins new transmission lines will be added, a new switchyard, expansion of an existing switchyard and one additional substation. Completion is scheduled for 2028.

Crews working on upgrades to the turbine-generator units at Priest Rapids Dam started work on the sixth unit in November 2023. With that, a decades-long project to upgrade the turbines and generators at both Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams is three-quarters complete. 

Work on the turbine and generator units at Wanapum Dam began in 2004, and the work at Priest Rapids in 2016. The goal was to take advantage of upgraded technology and improve efficiency, and power production as a result, at both dams.

The PUD’s two hydroelectric projects are among 11 along the Columbia River, some federal projects, others operated under license by local public utility districts. As part of its license, the PUD is required to provide recreation opportunities along the river. There are five public campgrounds among the utility’s 19 recreation sites. Along with campsites, the PUD provides oat launches, fishing spots and hiking trails, picnic areas and swimming beaches. The camping sites are located at Crescent Bar, Sand Hollow and at Priest Rapids Dam, and “primitive” campsites at Rocky Coulee and the Jackson Creek fish camp.

The PUD is also required to minimize impact on salmon, steelhead and Pacific lamprey migrations through the project area.

The “no net impact” program means that the PUD makes up for the losses of salmon, steelhead and lampreys that travel through Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams on their way to the ocean and back to the spawning grounds. 

The program is overseen by committees with representatives from tribes that live along the river and federal and state agencies.

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

    Salmon fry before release. The Grant County PUD’s migrating fish mitigation program is included in its 2023 annual report, released Monday.