Grant PUD to hike electric rates April 1; percentages will vary

EPHRATA – Grant PUD customers will see higher electric rates beginning April 1. But the percentage of increase varies, depending on their rate class.

The utility district’s “core customers” – that is, residential, commercial, and small commercial/general service users – will get an averaged rate hike of 3.5%. Their electrical rates are lower than the actual cost to provide service.

Larger power consumers face a 9.5% rate increase. These “non-core” customers are tiered in two categories, and will be assessed an additional charge for blending in new, more-expensive power generation and any needed infrastructure to meet their loads. Such generation may come from market purchases and solar and wind sources, and potentially natural gas and nuclear power in the future.

For several years now, PUD staff have anticipated that increasing local demands for electricity would exceed the generation capacity of the district’s Wanapum and Priest Rapids hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River by 2026. Additionally, the district and other generating utilities have obligations under state law to utilze energy produced by alternative power sources which do not emit greenhouse gases.

There are other inflation-related expenses — such as increased costs for power grid components, adding and retaining personnel, and rising insurance premiums — that also factored into last week’s unanimous vote by PUD commissioners to raise rates.

According to the district, the percentage of increase within each rate class is:

• 1- Residential 4%
• 2- General Service 5%
• 3 - Irrigation 7%
• 3b - Ag Services 5%
• 6 – Street Lighting 5%
• 7 – Lg. General Service 7%
• 14 – Industrial 5%
• 15 – Large Industrial 1%
• 16 – Ag Food Processing 2%
• 17 – Evolving Industry 6%
• 19 – Fast EV Charging 1%
• 85 – Ag Boiler 5%

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.”

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In other business during their Jan. 27 meeting, commissioners approved a motion that sets a maximum price of $188.6 million for construction of the district’s new Ephrata-based service center.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held last August at the site, situated just south of the intersection of Nat Washington Way and State Route 282 near Grant County’s new jail.

While still in the development phase, the PUD’s new facility is expected to have space for the line department, power delivery engineering, transmission strategy and development, electric shop, transportation and facilities department, dispatch and control center, transmission strategy and development, warehouse and materials yard, and mail room and copy center.

Grant PUD purchased the 34-acre site from Grant County for $455,000. The service center will contain nearly 320,00 square feet of buildings, parking structures, fuel island and storage. Construction will continue through 2027.

When completed, it will replace the existing, decades-old service center and materials yard located just north of the Ephrata Middle School. That congested site is hemmed in by surrounding streets, structures, and a steep hillside, preventing needed expansion, say officials.

The PUD is also planning for a new Moses Lake service center, followed by a new Ephrata headquarters building. The timelines and costs for these projects are yet to be determined.