Grant PUD asks public for more input on rates

MOSES LAKE — Grant County Public Utility District customers will have until July 31 to submit their ideas and opinions on future rate policy, and therefore future rates, in a survey available on the PUD website. Chief Customer Officer Ty Ehrman said Tuesday that options for a revised rate policy are scheduled to be presented to PUD commissioners July 23, although that date is subject to change. 

Utility district officials held meetings in April and May with customers in various rate classes to find out what they thought about rates, now and in the future. Ehrman presented some of the results at a meeting for PUD customers Tuesday.

Ehrman also asked questions of the audience, saying part of the discussion is looking ahead to where the PUD wants to be in 20 years, and how county residents want to handle possible growth.

Some things are just going to happen, whether customers like them or not. 

“We are anticipating that rate increases are going to continue to be required in order to cover ongoing costs,” Ehrman said. “It shouldn’t come as a surprise that supply chain costs continue to increase. And we are doing everything we can in order to keep those costs as low as possible and reduce the impact to our customers. However, it is a reality that costs do increase over time, and so we are anticipating that rate increases are going to continue to be needed.”

Given that, Ehrman said current rate-setting policy stipulates increases should be stable and predictable. 

Utility district operation of Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams means the PUD generates its own electricity, and as a result, has lower power rates. Utility district policy stipulates that the benefits from that are allocated first to residential, small commercial, large commercial and irrigation customers. Ehrman said commissioners want to keep that policy in place. 

The PUD doesn’t, and can’t, use all the power generated by Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams. It’s expected to be using all of its share of electrical generation within three to four years. Ehrman said most of the demand for power is driven by industrial customers. And there’s still a lot of interest out there by businesses considering Grant County. The PUD has pending requests for power adding up to about 3,200 megawatts, he said. 

“Our current system peak, which set a record this last winter, was a little over 1,000 megawatts,” Ehrman said. 

Most of that demand is driven by industrial customers, he said. Current and future demand came up during rate meetings, and one of the conclusions listed from the meeting with irrigators was that industrial class rates are too low, and drive demand. 

Part of the current rate-setting analysis involves determining what it costs to provide service to each rate class. The results determined that residential, irrigation and some commercial customers are paying below what it costs to provide service to them, while industrial customers are paying more. The audience was asked for their ideas on a fair way to allocate costs to each rate class. 

People attending the meeting also were asked whether or not lower-cost electricity or greater reliability were more important to them. One respondent said his experience in industry showed that electrical interruptions could be very expensive for some businesses and they would be willing to pay more for reliability.

Irrigation customers who attended an April 13 meeting didn’t think the cost of providing service should be part of setting rates, according to the report. Industrial customers at a May 21 meeting wanted to know how rates, power supply and PUD finances would be affected when the utility exceeded its allocation from Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams. Both groups wanted to know how the PUD plans to address future load growth and what kind of generation resources are being considered.

A member of the audience asked if the PUD was considering nuclear power. Ehrman said that is an option. The PUD was involved in research into small modular nuclear reactors, and was one of the leaders in that research, he said.

“A lot of interest, and for good reason. There’s a lot of potential in that technology,” he said. “We did take a step back, because in the end being first in line was questionable as far as the amount of risk it ended up putting on the utility and ultimately our customers. But we never stopped. We’ll continue to look into that, among other solutions that we may have on the generation side.”

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