With the statewide moratorium on utility disconnections expiring last week, exposing hundreds of Lewis County Public Utility District customers to a potential loss of service, PUD commissioners are considering a proposed utilitywide increase of 0.95% to services beginning next year.
PUD staff say the proposed hike would be fairly minimal, increasing the daily basic charge by a penny to $0.96 and the electricity rate by less than a percent to $.0.06819 per kilowatt hour for residential customers.
For the average residential PUD customers using 1,400 kilowatt hours per month, this would result in a monthly increase of about $1.27 per month on their bill, excluding any city sales tax. The cost would be less than neighboring counties, including Grays Harbor, Skamania and Mason, but would for the first time be higher than what customers in Centralia city limits currently pay.
The proposed increase is a relief from the previously estimated 3% increase the utility had been advised to adopt earlier this year. According to previous Chronicle reporting, PUD customers experienced a 1.9% increase that went into effect at the beginning of this year.
But as of this week, Lewis County PUD still has about 969 customers with past due balances of 60 days or greater, said Public Affairs Manager Willie Painter. That’s down from 1,137 reported in mid-July. Approximately $648,845 in late dues are still outstanding.
Painter said there is not currently a sense that the rate increase will lead to more customers falling behind on their bills.
“The rate increase for residential customers is currently proposed to be less than 1% and regardless of what rates are in any given year, we always have customers who fall behind from time to time and we do our best to work with them to establish special payment arrangements as well as getting them in contact with various assistance programs,” he said.
There are currently more funds available than there are applicants, Painter said. Customers with a past due account of 60 days or more are encouraged to call PUD customer service before Oct. 29 to access financial assistance or set up a payment plan in order to avoid a lapse in service.
During the first of two public hearings that took place Tuesday, Commissioner Michael Kelly again called for no rate increases for this upcoming year, especially given the amount of vulnerable customers that have fallen behind on payments.
“There’s people that just cannot afford an increase,” he said, noting there are more line items within the budget that could be cut for savings.
Commissioner Tim Cournyer applauded his staff’s work to bring about a “reasonable increase” they hope they can absorb, saying, “I think we are headed in the right direction and I think the utility is being very mindful of the customers. I’ve always said I would love to see a 0% increase for everybody, but reality for everyone at this time — I think this is a great piece of work.”
Cournyer said he agreed with Kelly when he said the utility should bring about a 0% increase, adding that this minimally proposed increase serves as a promising step forward to bring about no rate increases the next year as a goal.
PUD commissioners are still taking public feedback on the proposed increase. Another public hearing has been scheduled during the board’s regular 10 a.m. meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 19.
Only one person spoke at this week’s public hearing on the new rate schedule. That person was against the hike.
A first reading of the resolution creating the new rate schedule is set to be read at the Nov. 16 meeting.
Other rate changes being proposed through the new schedule include:
• A 1.7% increase in the street lighting rates, mostly for municipalities.
• A 3.57% increase to second-tier commercial customers, with no change to demand expected.
• A new base charge of $1.58 is being proposed for the utility’s 35 industrial accounts.
• Irrigation rate schedule customers will move to a monthly schedule, and the rate of charge would be moved over from a horse power charge to a $6.03 kilowatt demand charge. A $0.96 daily basic charge is also being proposed.
Lewis County PUD customer service can be reached at 360-748-9261.
