Grant PUD eyes 3.5% rate hike for ‘core customers’ in 2026
EPHRATA – Grant County PUD’s core customers may see an averaged 3.5% increase in their electric bill beginning next spring while larger “non-core” power users could face rate hikes upward of 8.2% in 2026.
Those preliminary figures were outlined to Grant PUD commissioners during their Nov. 12 meeting. The commissioners will accept input on next year’s power rate proposals during a Dec. 9 public hearing and subsequent 14-day comment period. Any adopted rate adjustments are expected to take effect next April.
The utility district identifies its core customers as residential, agricultural and small business users whose electrical rates are less than actual cost of service. That is offset by larger industrial customers, who pay above-cost rates and are primarily responsible for rapidly increasing demands for PUD power generated by the district’s two Columbia River dams, Priest Rapids and Wanapum.
However, PUD staff expect demand will exceed the dams’ hydropower generation capacity next year. Then, the industrials will pay for necessary infrastructure and higher costs for other sources of electricity, such as wind, solar, or nuclear, say district officials. Demands for more power stem in part from increases in artificial intelligence computing capability and effects from Washington state’s clean-energy legislation, which calls for phasing out carbon-based fuels as a power source.
Grant PUD is adding more personnel – an additional 88 positions are forecast for hiring next year – to design, build, and maintain infrastructure to meet future growth. A PUD analysis says an average annual rate hike of 3.5% for core customers and 9.5% for non-core customers will be needed through 2035 to keep the district’s “bottom line in the black” over the coming decade. Actual increases per year would vary within individual rate classes.
The upcoming rate hearing is slated for 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9, along with opening the 14-day comment period. PUD commissioners are also expected to adopt the district’s 2026 budget on Dec. 9 during the regular business portion of their meeting.
Despite pending increases, Grant County PUD – along with mid-Columbia Chelan and Douglas county public utility districts – have among the lowest power rates in the nation.
In a recent survey of more than 900 customers, over 85% of respondents said Grant PUD’s highest priority should be keeping prices as low as possible, followed by minimizing power outages (84.6%), protecting and enhancing natural resources (73.5%), providing energy savings programs (70.9%), promotion of jobs and economic development (66.6%), and reducing carbon emissions (55.6%).
Respondents also voiced concerns over impacts posed by data center operations, support for hydropower and nuclear power, and opposition to wind and solar power.
Last month, PUD commissioners unanimously approved two 20-year power-purchase agreements with the firm Royal Slope LLC.
One is for a 260-megawatt solar-energy project located near Wanapum Dam that is expected to be constructed soon; the other is for a 1,040-megawatt battery storage project. The two contracts won’t start before March 31, 2028, but are intended to help the district achieve its state clean-energy goals
