Your PUD
News Release
PUD helps customer-owners conserve energy and water
Chelan County PUD
News Release
3/14/2005
The PUD’s Energy Services Department updated commissioners Monday on the conservation programs and services they offer to customer-owners, with a focus on the Resource$mart program for industrial customers.
Besides offering conservation information, low-interest weatherization loans, the SNAP program and Xeriscape gardening information (low water-use), staff also has their eyes set on new technologies that can help Chelan County residents save money on energy costs in the future.
The department’s Resource$mart program helps fund energy-efficiency improvements for industrial and commercial customers. Program participants are eligible for 75 percent of the cost of installing the conservation measure or three-year projected net revenue to the District (whichever is smaller). Fruit warehouses have been the primary participants in the program.
Some examples:
- Dovex added energy-efficient C02 scrubbers, fast-acting doors, and adjustable speed drives under the program, netting the PUD $270,000, or 8,466 MWh per year.
- Stemilt added fast-acting doors in 2001 and is considering projects at its Olds Station and McNeil Canyon plants for 2005. The net annual benefit to the PUD is $70,200, or 2,196 MWh.
- Tree Top’s Wenatchee plant added a new lagoon aeration system that allows managers to run pumps less often. The net annual benefit to the PUD is $55,500, or 1,735 MWh.
Overall, the Resource$mart program is saving the PUD about $720,000 a year, or enough energy to power about 1,300 homes.
There are “still megawatts of savings in the District,” said Jim White, the PUD’s commercial and industrial energy engineer. Staff will ask commissioners at the March 28 meeting to approve spending about $338,000 for projects in 2005.
In other business, commissioners:
- Received commemorative aluminum samples from Alcoa Wenatchee Works manager Bob Wilt as he updated them on restart operations at the plant. Wilt again thanked commissions for their support the past few years and emphasized Alcoa’s interest in continuing the relationship with a new power contract in 2011.
- Amended service provider rates for connection to the PUD’s wholesale fiber-optic network. Changes include new rates for video, voice over Internet, and video conferencing services. Commissioner Werner Janssen voted against approval of this and other resolutions related to the fiber project.
- Extended a contract with PowerCom Inc., Bothell, for continued construction of the fiber-optic network. The $2.5 million extension, which runs through March 2006, plans for 6,000 new service locations. Revised the agreement with the PUD’s fiber-optic service providers to include video transport services. The agreement holds the service providers responsible for negotiating and maintaining content for their videos services.
- Heard a presentation by PUD’s meter readers. Dennis Stone, lead meter reader, detailed the daily activities of meter readers, including the types of meters read and the methods used.
- Participated in a discussion with Andrew Munro, director of Governmental Affairs, on the status of bills in the state Legislature. Munro reported that the Columbia River Initiative, which would limit how much water the PUD could use to produce power, has been halted pending legislative action. The PUD is also watching legislation regarding telecommunications and renewable portfolio standards.
- Heard from Tracy Yount, director of Environmental Services, that the Yakama Nation has contacted the PUD in regard to signing the PUD’s Habitat Conservation Plans for Rocky Reach and Rock Island. The Yakama Nation had petitioned the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to review the action by FERC of incorporating the HCPs into the Rocky Reach and Rock Island project licenses. The appeal did not delay implementation of the HCPs, which had already undergone extensive environmental review and approval.
- Received an update on Rocky Reach relicensing from Gregg Carrington, director of Hydro Services. Carrington reminded commissioners that Monday was the deadline for any interventions and/or terms and conditions to be included in FERC’s consideration of the PUD’s license application. Staff are in settlement negotiations with parties involved in the process.
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The next regular meeting of the PUD commission will start at 1 p.m. on Monday, March 21, 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 home page, www.chelanpud.org.
Christy Shearer
Communications Specialist
509.661.4258
509.421.4258, cell
christin@chelanpud.org