EPHRATA — Grant County Public Utility District customers will have through Dec. 9 to submit their comments on the 2026 PUD budget. The PUD’s preliminary budget projects about $236.9 million in hand at the end of the 2026, but Public Information Officer Christine Pratt said the final budget could, and will, look different.  

“Department budgets are still being written, so those numbers are sure to change,” Pratt said in answer to an emailed question from the Columbia Basin Herald.  

The preliminary budget includes a 2% rate increase, but that can be changed by the commissioners, Pratt said. The 2025 budget included a 3% increase.  

The preliminary total budgeted expenses were projected at about $434 million, which includes both planned expenditures with some anticipated revenues subtracted.  

Utility district officials always have a long list of projects, and 2026 is no exception. The most expensive are ongoing projects, among them expanding access to electrical power in the Quincy area, a new maintenance facility in Ephrata, upgrades to the turbines and generators at Priest Rapids Dam and reinforcing the spillways at Priest Rapids.  

The Quincy transmission lines will connect Quincy directly with Wanapum Dam. The preliminary estimate of the work for 2026 was about $97.3 million.  

That will include work on the new transmission lines — which have prompted concern from some property owners along the route — additional substations, and more connections between existing and new substations.  

The new maintenance center will be on property purchased by the PUD from Grant County, near the site of the new Grant County Jail. It’s the first phase of a project that will eventually include a new headquarters. The first phase is projected to cost about $87 million. 

The turbine-generator upgrades are part of a multi-decade project to upgrade the turbines and generators at both Priest Rapids and Wanapum. The Wanapum phase is complete, and crews are more than halfway through the work at Priest Rapids. Completion is projected for 2030.  

The project includes disassembling turbines and generators, replacing parts that have worn out, and revising the design of the turbines to improve fish survival and increase efficiency. The projected cost for 2026 is about $44.5 million. 

The spillway upgrades followed the discovery of a leaking joint on a spillway pillar in 2017. Further analysis prompted PUD officials to add support to all the pillars across the dam. Total cost for 2026 is projected at $31 million. 

The public can submit comments on the budget through Dec. 9 at grantpud.org.