The Lewis County Public Utility District (PUD) is eyeing a 2% rate increase over the next two years to balance its 2027-2028 budget as it prepares for higher costs of purchasing power from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA).
The Lewis County PUD Board of Commissioners held public hearings on its proposed two-year budget and proposed rate increase during a board meeting Tuesday morning. The meeting was the first of two opportunities for the public to comment on the potential rate increase and marked the start of a month-long public comment period.
During the same meeting, the board of commissioners unanimously approved a nearly $256 million two-year budget. The approved budget assumes the 2% rate increase. However, the commissioners did not yet approve the rate hike and are likely to delay a final decision on the rate increase until late December — well beyond the end of the public comment period next month.
The budget passed without challenges from the commissioners. Staff presented a balanced budget that includes using roughly $1 million in reserves in 2027 and replenishing those reserves with a $2.7 million contribution in 2028 thanks to a reduction in the district's yearly debt payments by $1.8 million.
The proposed rate increase ruffled some feathers as commissioners aired frustrations either with the idea of raising rates or the rising costs prompting the rate hike — or both.
According to Lewis County PUD General Manager David Plotz, the main reason for the rate hike is increasing costs from BPA, which has projected a 6.3% rate increase on wholesale power headed into 2027, but has yet to make a final decision.
Other contributors to the rate hike include general inflation for costs of materials as well as the hiring of an additional tree crew to address tree limbs threatening to down lines as well as underground cable replacements and elevator maintenance.
PUD Commissioner Michael Hadaller decried the proposed rate hike amid rising costs across the board.
“Everybody’s on a super tight budget,” Hadaller said. “We talk about raising rates.”
He similarly aired frustrations with BPA and the uncertainty around costs. According to Plotz, the final decision from Bonneville on the exact rate hike is expected sometime between November and January.
Commissioner Dave Muller shared his fellow board members' frustrations with Bonneville, but also warned against attempting to “eat” a rate increase from Bonneville and absorb the costs.
“Eating BPA increases digs yourself a hole,” he said.
Plotz similarly warned against attempting to absorb the increased cost of power purchases from Bonneville, arguing that it could jeopardize financial security of the utility and force it to rely on reserves.
“Bonneville says these are the costs, and if we sit on those for too long, that actually impacts the reliability and the security of our system,” Plotz said.
According to Plotz, staff proposed the 2% increase largely based on the proposed 6.3% hike from Bonneville, adding that while the final increase is still undecided, staff is confident it will be at least 2%. Plotz added that if the utility implements its rates before Bonneville announces its decision that they may come back to the board to request adjusting local rates to match the hike.
In response to Hadaller’s concerns about affordability and timing from the BPA, Muller proposed the board delay a final decision until late December in hopes that BPA will make a decision on their own rate increases by that time.
The predicted rate hike from Bonneville stems from a February court order out of Oregon in which a judge ordered the regional power system to spill more water over the top of its dams to protect threatened salmon species. That order means the administration will be forced to send less water through power turbines.
According to the administration, the projected 6.3% increase is an attempt to cover a roughly $250 million shortfall.
Environmental groups and the states of Oregon and Washington are plaintiffs in that lawsuit, which kicked off in the summer of 2025.
The lawsuit came shortly after the federal government under the Trump Administration pulled out of an agreement from late 2023 entered into by the Biden Administration, which had paused years of legal battles between native tribes and the federal government.
The Biden-era agreement had promised more than $300 million in funding for tribes and the states of Oregon and Washington to support efforts to protect vulnerable fish species.
