PUD discusses water heaters, WPUDA voting

Staff and commissioners of Wahkiakum PUD updated the gathered group on ongoing projects during their meeting on July 20.

PUD Manager Dave Tramblie announced that a four-hour outage would be needed on July 28 to complete an electrical project on the Puget Island Bridge. Further advertising will follow, he said.

PUD Auditor Erin Wilson reported that three PUD customers were selected by lottery to participate in a study of the effectiveness of energy efficient heat pump water heaters. Wilson said she hopes to have the water heaters installed in the customers’ homes within the first week of August.

The board approved a resolution meant to clarify the service charge policy. It was amended to dictate that customers that have received disconnection notices but have not made payment arrangements will be assessed a field collection fee as soon as district personnel are dispatched to disconnect water or electric service.

Commissioner Esther Gregg recounted changes made at a recent restructuring meeting of the Washington PUD Association, including a motion that required meeting “skin in the game” criteria for board directors to cast votes. “Skin in the game” means that board members could only vote on motions that directly affect the PUDs they represent, she said.

Gregg said this motion grew out of a discussion about WPUDA’s stance on I-937, a renewable energy ballot initiative that was approved by Washington voters in 2006. The initiative only directly impacted utilities with greater than 25,000 customers, yet all WPUDA directors were allowed to vote during the determination about whether or not to support the initiative. The group voted not to lobby against the initiative, and consequently Snohomish PUD left WPUDA.

In recent months, several large PUDs in Washington have announced their intention to leave WPUDA if restructuring efforts were not successful, and Wahkiakum PUD commissioners decided in June that they too would leave WPUDA at the end of the year if annual dues rise significantly due to the loss of dues from larger utilities.