Grant PUD rates to go up 3%

Cheryl Schweizer, Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, Wash.
·2 min read

Jan. 29—EPHRATA — Grant County PUD customers will see an increase in their electrical rates beginning April 1. Utility district commissioners approved an overall 3% rate increase, averaged across all rate classes, on a 3-1-1 vote Jan. 23.

Commissioners Larry Schaapman, Judy Wilson and Terry Pyle voted in favor of the proposal. Commissioner Tom Flint was opposed, saying he thought rates should be increased identically for all electrical customers, regardless of rate class. Commissioner Nelson Cox abstained.

For 2024 some rate classes get an increase higher than 3%, while others will get a lower one, with the end result of a 3% increase overall. The rate increase will be 3.53% for residential, general service (mostly small businesses), irrigation and large general service customers. For residential customers, that will mean an increase from 5.7 cents to 5.9 cents per kilowatt hour and 4.9 cents to 5.1 cents per KWh for irrigators. General service rates will increase from 4.8 cents to 5 cents per KWh.

Industrial customers (Class 14), agricultural processors and agricultural boiler customers will see a 5.25% increase. For agricultural processors and industrial customers, the rate will go from about 3.1 to 3.3 cents per KWh.

Large industrial customers (Class 15) rates will increase from 3.7 to 3.8 cents per KWh, a 1.74% increase.

Utility district rates and rate-setting policy have been the subject of considerable discussion since last October. Commissioners have announced they will review the rate-setting policy in 2024. The current policies use a method for setting rates that commissioners have said they want to evaluate and possibly change.

Rates are governed under a policy updated in December, which uses the cost of providing service to a customer class as part of the rate-setting process. That revised a policy first passed in 2015, based on information from cost of service studies that showed it's more expensive to provide electrical service to some customer classes than others.

The policy sets the goal of establishing rates for customer classes within a specific boundary above or below the cost of providing their service. That's the policy commissioners are planning to review during 2024.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.