Your PUD
News Release
PUD rate increases approved, starting Jan. 1
Chelan County PUD
News Release
9/10/2007
Following more than a year of public meetings, Chelan County PUD commissioners Monday approved across-the-board rate increases that will take effect Jan. 1, 2008.
Electric rates will rise by 5 percent; water and sewer rates by 9 percent; and the wholesale fiber-optic rates charged to service providers by 2 percent. The increases mean the average residential electric bill will rise by approximately $3 per month.
Prior to the vote, Director of Customer Service John Stoll reviewed with commissioners decisions they made at June’s strategic planning session on rates and potential surcharges. At that meeting, commissioners voted to move away from reliance on volatile wholesale power sales and onto more secure financial footing for the future. One of several guiding principles called for the PUD to move rates toward covering costs.
Comments from the public Monday ranged from requests for reduced fees for fiber-optic service providers to a request for further PUD cost efficiencies.
Commissioners thanked General Manager Rich Riazzi and staff for being open and transparent in sharing a wealth of information in the last year as rates and fees were examined. The PUD last increased electric rates in 2000. The new increases will be considered annually as part of the PUD budget.
Commissioners also approved a proposal giving the PUD’s general manager authority to increase fees for certain services and equipment such as transformers and water meters. These cost-based fees were increased in March and will be adjusted as needed to cover costs. Staff emphasized that if these costs decrease, so could the fees.
Commissioners also changed the process for adopting a temporary rate surcharge, should one ever be needed. There will still be public notice and a public rate hearing, but the time sequence was shortened to allow faster response with the most up-to-date information on items that could affect revenues and expenses.
In other business, PUD commissioners:
- Agreed on a list of agenda items for a meeting with Chelan County commissioners scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday at the PUD board room. Observing the session will also be commissioners from the Chelan County Port District. The three agencies have been discussing items of common interest related to infrastructure and services for county residents in the future. The meetings are expected to occur four times a year.
- Agreed to change board governance policies by adding language that encourages regular attendance by commissioners at board meetings and sets limits for participation by telephone. Unless approved by a majority of the board, members will be restricted to no more than two meetings in a row where they participate by telephone and to a maximum of six meetings per year with attendance by telephone.
- Heard from Richard Uhlhorn and Mike Sherer regarding future trail systems near Chelan. The two represented the Lake Chelan Recreation Association and the Lake Chelan Development Foundation which are working with PUD staff on proposed trails near Chelan that are required as part of the PUD’s new federal license to operate the Chelan Hydro Project. The two asked for a more extensive trail system than has been proposed so far. An updated trail proposal will be reviewed at a meeting Sept. 19 in Chelan, prior to further public comment and submission to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by Nov. 1.
- Received their first look at issues influencing the upcoming 2008 budget. Preliminary budget numbers will be presented Oct. 29, with a final budget considered by commissioners in early December. Goals include holding operations and maintenance costs to a 5.3-percent increase, below the historic 7-percent average.
- Voted to approve a project by Eagle Scout candidate Nathan Spies of Entiat to study how the Kiwanis Park in Entiat could get lighting for nighttime events.
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Commissioners adjourned and continued the meeting to 8 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 11 for a finance seminar in the PUD Headquarters auditorium.
The next regular meeting of the PUD commission is at 1 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, in the boardroom at PUD headquarters, 327 N. Wenatchee Ave.
Most PUD commission meetings are recorded, and a link to the audio is available on the PUD’s home page at www.chelanpud.org.
Christy Shearer
Communications Audio-visual Specialist
Chelan County PUD
509.661.4258 office
509.421.4258 cell
509.661.8133 fax
christy.shearer@chelanpud.org