Lewis County PUD Commissioners were in attendance during a presentation made by staff to residents on proposed rate increases in March 2017. From left to right: Tim Cournyer, Ben Kostick and Dean Dahlin.
Lewis County residents again filled a Public Utility District commissioners meeting on Tuesday for the second of two public hearings on a proposed rate increase in the district.
Around 30 people showed up for the meeting, where staff made the same presentation they had given at a meeting in Morton the previous week.
Key reasons rates could increase by 8.4 percent across the various service categories includes a reduction in usage from customers as well as a glut in energy on the West Coast, driving down the price for which both the District and Bonneville Power Administration can sell excess power.
These reasons, coupled with requirements from the state that the District purchase at least 15 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2020 and increasing maintenance costs, led the District to seek rate increases.
“There’s a lot more power in the market now,” said Chris Roden, the District’s power manager.
Lewis County is also a block-buyer from Bonneville Power, meaning it takes a fixed slice of the overall power produced each year. The benefit to customers is that this maintains stability instead of buying on an as-needed basis.
The District’s contract with Bonneville Power extends until 2028.
The District currently has a $3.3 million budget deficit, staff said. In past years, the selling of excess power as well as the use of budget reserve funds has been used to offset this difference and avoid a rate increase. Over the past three years, the district’s cash reserves have dropped from $16 million to $8 million, a level that General Manager Dan Kay said was too low.
Daily charges are expected to increase 20 cents, to a total of 95 cents, for residential, commercial and small industrial customers. Kilowatt-hour charges would be increased by 5.5 percent to 5.763 cents.
This raised concerns among some in attendance, who questioned whether kilowatt-hour rate charges should be increased while keeping the base rate the same. They pointed to a graph presented in the District’s documents which showed Puget Sound Energy as having much lower base charges.
District staff said PSE’s low base rate is offset by much higher kilowatt-hour rates and more customers paying into the system than in Lewis County.
Increasing costs to maintain the some 3,300 miles of power lines in the county and other infrastructure also led the District to examine raising rates.
Carbon taxes working their way through the state Legislature will also present increased costs for the District.
Hydroelectric power is also not considered a renewable resource which is qualified to meet the 15 percent quota by 2020 in Washington state. Kay said the District has been talking with the Legislature regularly about their concerns.
“Many of us in this room are in Olympia. We’re not just sitting on our hands,” he said.
Some residents in the room were not convinced by the need to raise rates, particularly the base electric rates.
One woman said the increases would be hard to pay for on her fixed income.
“I don’t think I can remain living in Lewis County if rates go up very much,” said another woman.
Public comment will continue to be accepted through this Friday, and can be sent to execadmin@lcpud.org.
Commissioner Dean Dahlin thanked those who came to the meeting.
“Without your comments, we wouldn’t know how you felt,” he said.
If approved, the new rates would be effective on April 1.
