New Lewis County PUD Manager Keeps His Eyes on the Horizon

Posted

With the future of the Lewis County Public Utility District in mind, its three-member Board of Commissioners looked to the not-so-distant past for the general manager it wants leading the utility for years to come.

Chris Roden took over the job on Oct. 16, a few weeks after the commissioners removed Dan Kay from the position without cause. Roden had worked for Lewis County PUD for about five years before leaving in October of last year to become the Director of Government and Regional Affairs for the Cowlitz County PUD.

He was a finalist for the job when Kay took over in 2016. Commissioners cited Roden’s experience working with elected officials at the state and federal levels as well as his familiarity with Lewis County as reasons why he was the only person they interviewed for the position.

“If there was a transition, it took about 15 minutes and then we were back off and running again,” Roden said. “One of the reasons I ultimately decided to come back is I think we have a great staff of folks here. I feel like I’m really 18 months ahead of the game because of my prior experience with this utility.”

Sitting in his office Monday afternoon, Roden described his broad list of objectives for moving Lewis County PUD into a position for success as a number of key on- and off-grid issues reach their apex in coming years.

He gave three directives at a staff meeting on his first day back in the Chehalis office: start the process of hiring a chief financial officer, maintain an open line of communication during the transition from Kay to himself, and restructure how the utility crafts its annual operating budget.

The last of the three objectives has occupied much of Roden’s time of late, and fits in with his larger goal of increasing focus on long-term projects and forecasts for the energy sector at a county, state and regional level.

“(Roden) has the ability to see the big picture and really whittle things down to what’s important,” said Matt Samuelson, Power Supply Manager for Lewis County PUD. “He has great foresight and understanding of legislative process, as well as a deep knowledge of the broad industry and some of the challenges and changes we’re facing that can fundamentally change the way we do business.”

Roden said the initial document he saw outlining the 2019 budget had a funding gap of more than $4 million. That’s since been shrunk down and a second public hearing on the budget was scheduled to take place during the regular board of commissioners meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the PUD auditorium in Chehalis.

The first of two public hearings regarding the adoption of new electric rates will also take place during that meeting, with the second one scheduled for Dec. 4 in Morton. The new rate structure would raise the per-kilowatt hour rate by 5 percent, which translates to an increase of about $4.50 per month for the average residential customer.



“We’re faced with increasing costs and decreasing power sales,” said Commissioner Ben Kostick. “So in the immediate future, rates will need to be considered.”

Roden points to increased rates charged by the Bonneville Power Administration and costs incurred as a result of Initiative 937, which requires large utilities to get 15 percent of their electricity from renewable resources such as solar and wind — excluding hydroelectric sources — by 2020 as reasons why costs continue to rise.

“There’s a definite effort up and down the West Coast and explicitly in Washington to regulate carbon,” Roden said. “We’ve seen it in legislative efforts and initiatives such as I-1631 and 937, and I don’t anticipate we’ll see it go away until there is some kind of carbon-pricing mechanism in the West. … We’re not going to see the current environmental policy regime stand still, and I don’t anticipate we’ll see the regulations decrease in the next decade, all things being equal.”

Roden plans to draw on experience gained while representing the interests of Cowlitz PUD in Olympia and Washington D.C. as he works to put the utility he now leads at the center of ongoing legislative conversations regarding the future of the power grid; he expects talk of raising the I-937 threshold to pick up as soon as January.

He plans to have Lewis County PUD be an active participant in those discussions he referred to as the “fog of war” while at the same time working to improve communication between the utility and its customer base.

The form in which carbon is priced and whether utilities will be required to further shift towards solar and wind production will likely impact how Roden and PUD staff begin to examine the future of its contracts with BPA regarding the purchase of power and operation of the Cowlitz Falls hydroelectric project. Both of those agreements are set to expire within the next 10-12 years.

Lewis County PUD will also have to consider major upgrades to its infrastructure, including transformers and transmission lines, as soon as next year. Kostick said PUD leadership is still undecided as to whether it will look to fund those projects with short-term revenue or opt to take on debt in order to spread out the cost impact to people who may move to the area during the lifespan of a new line truck or generator.

“We will always engage on issues where our customers could be impacted regarding the reliability of the grid, the cost they pay and the viability of our long-term investments. “We’re definitely engaged in those conversations, because those rules need to be written in a way that benefit Lewis County customers.”