GCPUD power rates will increase on April 1

EPHRATA — Electrical rate increases take effect April 1 for Grant County PUD customers.

The utility district says the average power bill will go up approximately $3.60 per month for residential customers.

They are among the PUD’s “core customers,” a group that also include irrigation, agriculture, and general service/small businesses who receive priority access to the district’s lowest-cost power generated by its two hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River. Collectively, their rate classes will increase by an average 3.5%.

Rates for other larger energy users will go up an average of 9.5%. Their rates could be less if any of the lowest-cost hydropower is not needed for the core customers.

The growing demand for electricity in Grant County has exceeded the generation output of Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams, so more-expensive energy must now be acquired from other sources. Additionally, the utility says it faces higher costs due to inflation for supplies and infrastructure, operational expenses, capital needs, and compliance with Washington state’s clean-energy requirements.  

The pending rate hikes for each core-customer class are: residential 3.4%, general service 3.5%, irrigation 2.7%, ag services, 3.5%, street lighting, 3.5%.

Increases for larger energy consumers by rate class are: large general service 10.7%, industrial 8.5%, large industrial 8.1%, ag food processing 9.2%, evolving industry 10.6%, fast EV charging 11.1%, ag boiler 9.5%.

Grant PUD analysts say annually adjusted rate hikes will be needed for the next decade as demands for electricity continue to increase, driven by the large energy-intense customers They will pay much of the cost to acquire and develop additional non-hydro power generation, with the new rates reflecting a long-term “unbundling” strategy approved last year by PUD commissioners.

“Under established policies, large new customers pay upfront for the infrastructure needed to serve them, preventing those costs from being added to the general rate base. This helps eliminate the misconception that new development automatically raises everyone’s rates,” said Chuck Allen, the district’s senior manager of external affairs and communications.

Those investments in new generation and expanded transmission capability are expected to benefit all customers with a “safer, more resilient” electric system with fewer outages and a more-diversified “power portfolio.”

Even with the pending hikes, Grant PUD and fellow mid-Columbia public utility districts in Chelan and Douglas counties have among the nation’s lowest power rates. Officials say Grant’s residential power price per kilowatt hour will be less than half of the Washington state average and about one-third of the national average.

Even so, during public hearings and a comment period in December, PUD commissioners Nelson Cox, Tom Flint, Terry Pyle, Larry Schaapman, and Judy Wilson heard from customers in several classes – residential, ag-processing, and industrial — who questioned or opposed the increases. Concerns were voiced then about impacts to persons on fixed incomes, slowing local economic growth, impairing workforce development, and reducing companies’ “competitive advantage.”

But inflation and production costs are also affecting other regional utilities, officials noted.

To supplement its hydropower generation, Grant PUD has been looking at other sources of electricity. It has a trio of agreements for 460 megawatts of solar power and 260 megawatts of battery-stored energy that will be available in late 2027 and early 2028.

Long term, district analysts are continuing to study scenarios that include additional solar power, battery storage, geothermal power, “pumped-storage” hydropower, wind power, and various generation sources utilizing natural gas and small modular nuclear reactor technology.

On their bills in April, PUD customers will also see new information about where their power is generated and how it’s delivered, said Allen.

“The intent behind these new line items is to show how core customers are being allocated Grant PUD's lowest-cost power, and how large-power users are paying for extra ‘incremental’ power resources needed to serve them,” he said.