Grant PUD commissioners approve 2021 budget
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 1 month AGO
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | December 11, 2020 1:00 AM
EPHRATA — Grant County PUD electrical billing rates will remain the same in 2021 as they are in 2020.
PUD commissioners unanimously approved a 2021 budget Nov. 24 that did not include any billing increases for any customer. For instance, residential rates will stay at around 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
Grant County PUD Public Affairs Officer Christine Pratt said it’s the third consecutive year that electricity billing rates remain unchanged.
Projected expenses are $380.6 million. Pratt said the budget includes projects ranging from a new substation near Royal City to expansion of the PUD’s fiber-optic network. The PUD will continue a project to upgrade all turbines and generators at Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams.
PUD financial analyst John Mertlich said the budget projects about 4.1% growth in customer demand annually through 2030, lower than earlier projections.
Mertlich said it’s a reflection of updated budget forecasting methods, as well as slower than anticipated growth for large industrial customers. It also shows the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and reduced demand from cryptocurrency customers.
Pratt said power production, the costs associated with producing electricity, account for about 39% of total budgeted expenses. Power delivery, maintaining and building the lines and substations that deliver electricity, account for about 22% of expenses.
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