Your PUD

Rock Island

• First dam on the Columbia River (built by Stone and Webster for Puget Power)
• First power produced in 1933
• Powerhouse expanded in 1953 for Alcoa (dam acquired by PUD)
• Added second powerhouse in 1979
• Generator nameplate capacity rating of 624 megawatts of electricity
• Total of 19 generators (11 vertical and 8 horizontal bulb turbines)

• Construction started in 1956, with first commercial power in 1961
• Powerhouse expanded in 1971, adding four larger units
• Total of 11 generators
• Generator nameplate capacity of 1,300 megawatts

• Finished in 1928 by Washington Water Power; acquired by Chelan County PUD in 1955
• Two generating units; generator nameplate capacity of 48 MW total
• Powerhouse situated two miles away from dam, along Columbia River; fed by penstock 2.1 miles long
• Project regulates surface level of Lake Chelan between 1,079 and 1,100 feet above sea level

Total generator nameplate capacity of PUD’s electrical generation is 1,972 MW, enough to run about a million Northwest homes of average electrical use. One megawatt can supply about 500 average Northwest homes.

• A little less than one-third (30 percent) of the total electricity produced is available for Chelan County PUD use. Any excess beyond the amount needed to meet local load can be sold on the open market. Alcoa Wenatchee Works is entitled to about 15 percent of the power produced by the PUD. The rest is sold at cost under long-term contracts to Puget Sound Energy, PacifiCorp, Portland General Electric and Avista. Those contracts expire in 2011 and 2012.
• Chelan County PUD is a nonprofit corporation of the state, covered by many of the rules that govern municipal corporations. Dividends are shared with customers in the form of low rates. The District does not make a profit.

• PUD created by a vote of the people of Chelan County in 1936
• First electrical service provided in 1947 at Antoine Valley near Chelan.

Contact Customer Services, 509-661-4344

• Chelan PUD has more than 41,000 electrical customers (34,000 residential)
• Chelan PUD has about 4,500 domestic water customers
• Chelan PUD has about 500 wastewater customers

Contact Human Resources, 509-661-4793

• PUD employs approximately 660-790 people, depending on the season and including part-time, on-call and limited assignment.
• Payroll (regular and overtime) was approximately $45 million for 2006

Contact Customer Services, 509-661-4344

• Residential customers pay about 3 cents per kilowatt hour and use about 47.5 percent of our local load (national average is close to 10 cents per kilowatt hour)
• Commercial customers pay a little more, about 3.25 cents per kilowatt hour, and use 29.2 percent of local load
• Industrial customers pay about 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour and use 19.6 percent of the load.
• The rest goes to irrigation pumps, frost machines, street lights, etc.

Contact Finance, 509-661-4455

• Expenditures budgeted 2007: approx. $307 million (combined capital and operations)
• Expenditures 2006: approx. $284 million
• Expenditures 2005: approx. $259 million

Much of the $25 million increase in 2006 was spent on major capital construction projects such as modernizing units in Rock Island Dam’s first powerhouse, adding a new transmission line across Burch Mountain and continuing modernization of generators at Rocky Reach Dam. Much of the increase in 2007 was targeted for relicensing obligations, repairs and upgrades to dams, distribution systems for water and electricity and increased materials costs.

Contact Utility Services, 509-661-4302

Connected fiber devices to more than 20,000 premises so far  (NOTE: A connection is not the same as getting actual service. Customers have to initiate service with a provider, once they have their connection on the side of the house -- or at their business)

• More than 5,400 actual connections through 15 local service providers.
• Plan to connect 75 percent of the county by 2008; 95 percent of the county by 2012.

Contact Licensing/Implementation, 509-661-4180

• New 50-year licesence was issued for Lake Chelan Hydro Project in 2006.
• Rocky Reach 50-year license expired June 30, 2006. New license is expected in 2007. The project is opperating under annual licenses. 
• Rock Island license expires in 2028

Contact Fish and Wildlife, 509-661-4560

• Unique bypass system installed at Rocky Reach Hydro Project collects young salmon and steelhead on the upstream side of the dam and channels them past the dam through a large pipe.
• Preliminary test results show percentages of passage through bypass  for all species (Chinook, steelhead, sockeye) higher than prototype
• Bypass completed at a cost of $107 million in 2003
• The PUD spends about $2 million a year on its Fish and Wildlife Department

Contact Parks, 509-661-4550

• The PUD has built 14 parks that serve more than 3 million visitors a year
• Some parks have been turned over to other agencies to manage

Contact Utility Services, 509-661-4302

• Trying to inform and educate high-consumption water users on how much they are using and how they can cut back
• Providing workshops for high-use customers on landscaping and irrigation methods that will reduce water consumption
• Still moving ahead on infrastructure improvements in areas where water demand is increasing for development

Contact Energy Resources, 509-661-4247

• Gaining efficiencies in generator rework at Rocky Reach; helping equipment perform as efficiently as possible and be as fish-friendly as possible; started in 1995 and concluded in 2007
• Total cost for Rocky Reach about $185 million for turbines and generators
• Beginning work on Rock Island modernization since much of the equipment hasn’t been upgraded in 70 years;
• Total cost estimated at $158 million for Rock Island work; expected to finish in 2017