Local News

September 6, 2007

Commissioners of Wahkiakum PUD gave 2008 budgets preliminary approval on Tuesday and discussed a variety of issues relating to PUD operations.
The commission will hold a final budget hearing in December; commissioners said they would have a workshop on their budgets at a meeting later this month.
Reporting on a training session on energy markets, Manager David Tramblie told Commissioners Bob Jungers, Esther Gregg and Larry Reese of a potential change in the industry that could impact local rates.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is pushing for changes in sales and routing of power.
In the western southern states, utilities deal directly with power producers to buy and sell supplies; they then pay a fee to the transmission service provider for making the power available to the customer.
In other areas of the country, Tramblie continued, the transmission companies called independent system operators (ISO’s) are involved in sales, creating a third layer of business and expense.
ISO’s balance power supply and load, Tramblie said, so costs are quite responsive to market shifts.
PUD personnel have wanted to start buying meters that could be read automatically from a remote location, but Tramblie said the PUD should be careful there. If the region is forced to adopt the ISO transmission model, the district may need to find certain automatic meters so that customer load can be monitored.
Tramblie added that with new meters and ISO pricing, costs to customers could be instantaneously adjusted according to market swings.
“This is a whole new concept for public power that the public may not like,” said commission President Bob Jungers.
In other business, the board authorized PUD staff to take steps to join a group of other PUD’s in contracting for safety program services.
Under the program, the PUD would have a safety manager on site about two days a month. The person would provide safety training and perform audits and write reports. The PUD’s previous safety manager has been gone for some time, Tramblie said.
Jungers expressed concern at the cost, $19,000, which seems like a big increase over the previous cost, he said.
Tramblie said the previous program didn’t provide much service. “We’ve been flying by the seat of our pants for several years,” he said.
“I don’t see how we can operate without a safety program,” Commissioner Reese commented.
Jungers agreed, and the board passed a resolution authorizing the district to enter the cooperative safety group.