Your PUD News Release
Resource$mart energy saving program gets another $1 million
Chelan County PUD
News Release
11/21/2005
PUD commissioners Monday approved extending a PUD-sponsored program to help Chelan County industrial and commercial customers use electricity more efficiently.
Staff asked commissioners for a $1 million authorization for the Resource$mart program. The funds buy back the energy savings realized when fruit warehouses and other large users of electricity install high-tech equipment to cut energy use. Since its inception in 2000, Resource$mart has saved the PUD enough power annually to operate 1,400 homes.
Helping big customers be more energy efficient reduces the amount of power the District must buy when water supplies are low and increases the amount of energy sold into the wholesale market when there is surplus, keeping rates low for all PUD customers.
Staff recommends that additional conservation projects should be funded in 2006 due to increased wholesale prices for electricity and because of continued interest in the program by industrial and commercial customers. The new authorization brings to $3 million the amount invested in the program.
The measures funded so far include fast-acting doors for fruit warehouses that cut the loss of cool air as forklifts move in and out; more efficient fans; heating and cooling system improvements; and more efficient lighting.
Potential state initiative on the horizon
After a meeting with other Washington state PUD commissioners last week, Chelan County PUD commissioners on Monday discussed a potential state initiative that could enforce a renewable portfolio standard for utilities, or a minimum amount of “green” power production each year as percentage of a utility’s power load. Staff has followed the RPS concept for some time and will watch the initiative process closely.
Chelan County PUD considers hydropower clean and renewable. The PUD is also developing other renewable resources, including solar and wind, through the SNAP Program (Sustainable Natural Alternative Power), Nine Canyon Wind Project and the Solar Demonstration Project at the Capitol Building in Olympia. There are also solar panels at every public school in Chelan County.
In other business, commissioners:
- Received a third quarter investment update from Treasury Supervisor Deborah Todd. The average rate of return during the quarter was 3.44 percent on an average invested balance of $302 million.
- Authorized a $4.8 million agreement with MWH Americas Inc., Bellevue, for professional engineering services for projects at Rocky Reach and Rock Island Dams.
- Approved a 15-year right-of-way agreement with the city of Cashmere for installation, operation and maintenance of the PUD’s wholesale fiber-optic system. As Cashmere owns the electric facilities, the city will charge the PUD an $11.80 pole attachment fee for each pole connection, each year. The Cashmere City Council voted to approve the agreement last week. Similar agreements were approved earlier this year for Entiat, Chelan, Wenatchee and Chelan County.
***
PUD commissioners will hold a special meeting at 7 p.m., Nov. 21, at the Cashmere Riverside Center to take public comment on the qualifications and characteristics needed in a new general manager. Another special meeting on general manager qualifications is set for 5 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 22, at the PUD Wenatchee Headquarters Auditorium.
The next regular meeting of the PUD commission will start at 1 p.m., Monday, Nov. 28, in the boardroom of the Headquarters Building, 327 N. Wenatchee Ave.
Most PUD commission meetings are recorded and a link to the audio is available on the PUD’s Web site, www.chelanpud.org.
Christy Shearer
Communications Audio-visual Specialist
509.661.4258
509.421.4258, cell
christy.shearer@chelanpud.org