Your PUD PUD News Line
8/29/2007
Final public hearing on rates is Sept. 10
Following three communitywide rate information meetings, PUD commissioners will host a final public hearing on potential rate increases on Sept. 10 as part of their regular board meeting in the Wenatchee Headquarters board room.
After many well-attended public meetings since last August, commissioners have set financial direction for the PUD that includes rate increases for electric, water, sewer and fiber-optic services. Click here for more information.
With the goal of putting the District on firmer financial ground for the next five years, commissioners have proposed raising electric rates by 5 percent; water and sewer rates by 9 percent; and the wholesale fiber-optic rates charged to service providers by 2 percent.
If approved, the proposed rates would go into effect in January 2008 and be reconsidered each year. The need for electric rate increases is forecast through 2010 (possibly 2011) and for water and sewer through 2012.
PUD voices concerns about Initiative 937 rule-making
Chelan County PUD commissioners this week heard staff explain changes they are suggesting for the rule-making process for Initiative 937, or what is now called the Energy Independence Act. It requires the PUD to meet 15 percent of its load with qualifying renewable energy by 2020.
This month staff sent a second round of suggestions to the Washington State Department of Community Trade and Economic Development (CTED), which is overseeing the rule-making on the initiative that was approved in 2006.
Director of External Affairs Gregg Carrington summed up the PUD’s letter by saying: “They [CTED] are attempting to exceed the authority that’s granted to them…”
Safety drill planned at Rocky Reach Dam on Aug. 31
The PUD, law enforcement and emergency medical crews will collaborate in a safety test on Aug. 31 at Rocky Reach Dam to prepare for the unlikely possibility that someone might fall into the juvenile fish pass system at the dam.
Mannequins, adult- and child-size, will be dropped in the Columbia River near the entrance to the fish bypass on the upstream side of the dam and then retrieved at two points; the fish sampling station on the east bank of the river and from the water below the bypass pipe outlet.
“We plan to operate this drill as an actual event, and use our Control Room and RiverCom notification systems,” said Jim Gray, Rocky Reach operations superintendent.
Dam visitors and drivers on Highway 97A may notice emergency vehicles at the dam Visitor Center and boats in the river below the dam during the test. The drill will start about noon and conclude by 2 p.m.
Rocky Reach Dam is seven miles north of Wenatchee on the Columbia River.
Lake Chelan to drop faster in line with new license terms
Lake Chelan users this fall may notice that the lake drops slightly faster than in previous years as Chelan County PUD puts into place a new month-by-month plan for lake levels that was approved as part of a new 50-year license.
On Sept. 7 each year, the lake is expected to be about 7 inches below the average of the past 20 years, which has been a surface elevation of 1,099.5 feet above sea level. The highest the lake ever reaches at any time is 1,100 feet.
Click here to learn more.
New multimedia library available now in PUD Web site
Chelan County PUD wants to make it easy for you to use our photos, videos and publications. In our new multimedia library, you can go to a photo gallery -- a library of PUD images -- that you can feel free to download and share.
You can also watch videos about the PUD and request copies of others.