A distribution pole damaged in the Cold Springs Fire managed to hang onto its transformer.
By Marcy Stamper
Residential ratepayers with the Okanogan County Public Utility District (PUD) will see a 4.5% rate increase starting April 1, an increase of $5.73 a month for the average customer.
On average, PUD ratepayers will see a 3.25% rate hike this year, with the increase set at different amounts to bring all classes of service closer to covering the PUD’s cost of providing power to them. The PUD commissioners unanimously approved the increase on Monday (Feb. 22).
The residential base rate will go up to $40.48, an increase of $1.67 from the existing $38.81. But the rate people will see on their bill will actually look lower ($38.05), because the PUD decided to show taxes as a separate line item. A 6.0134% tax is applied to all the components of the bill — the base rate and the kilowatt-hour (kWh) charges.
The new residential rates preserve two tiers. Those using up to 2,000 kWh per month pay will pay 5.127 cents per kWh (5.455 including tax). Ratepayers who use more than that pay 6.921 cents per kWh (7.364 cents with tax).
Small general service will get a 3.5% increase, and large general and industrial customers will pay 1.18% more. Irrigation customers will pay 2.5% more.
The PUD commissioners cut the proposed increase to frost-control customers in half, from 10% to 5%, after Commissioner Scott Vejraska expressed concern about the loss of agriculture jobs — and of jobs in sectors that support farmers. There aren’t many frost-control accounts, so it doesn’t have a big impact on the district’s bottom line, they said.
The cost-of-service study prepared by consultant Sergey Tarasov, senior project manager with FCS Group, showed that residential customers come up short by 19.5% in covering the PUD’s costs. Frost-control customers are 465% short. All the other service classes more than cover the PUD’s infrastructure costs, with large general service and industrial users paying about 23% extra.
At a workshop before the commissioners’ meeting, Tarasov pointed to various costs — infrastructure upgrades, debt on money borrowed to pay for the upgrades, and changes in the cost of wholesale power — that the PUD will have to cover in coming years. Projected load growth and an increasing customer base — particularly with more people moving to the county — could affect future costs and revenue, he said.
The commissioners didn’t make any decisions about rates beyond this year. They plan to revisit the electric rates needed for future operations at another time.
