Chelan PUD Looks At Extending Rate Hike, Holding Public Meetings

Chelan PUD is considering a two-year extension of a rate increase that's been in place for the past several years. Three public hearings on the proposal will be held in the next two weeks.

Get our free mobile app

The extension is meant to help the utility deal with the rapidly increasing cost of producing electricity. 

Chelan PUD Business Manager Lindsey Mohns says the goal is to gradually increase rates to keep pace with the cost of providing service. 

“We do have a gap between our rates and our cost,” said Mohns. “And the goal here is to ensure that that gap doesn’t continue to widen. We are trying to maintain where we are. “  

 According to the PUD, the average monthly electricity bill rose by $10 over the last six years, but the cost to produce electricity has increased by five times that amount. 

Typical residential customers' bills rose by $11 - from $55 to $66 per month - between 2018 and 2024, but the PUD's cost to generate and deliver electricity increased from about $100 a month per customer to $153 per month over the same time. 

The PUD says the gap is even bigger between customer bills and costs to provide service for water and wastewater.  

If the current rate increase were extended for two more years, the average customer would see a $2.00 hike in their monthly electricity bill in June of 2025, followed by another $2.00 increase in June of 2026. 

Monthly water bills would increase by $3.00 in each of the next two years, while monthly wastewater bills would jump by $3.75 in 2025 and $3.90 in 2026. The increase for water and wastewater service would be 4 percent per year. 

The PUD would try to soften the blow for low-income seniors, who are offered a discount on their bills. The discount would increase to $11-$13.50 a month, effective June 2025.   

A further extension of the rate increase for electricity, which is 3 percent per year, is projected to keep pace with the production cost increases through 2034. There would still be a gap, but the gap would not increase substantially. 

Water and wastewater services would also tend to stabilize with the extension to 2029. 

Mohns says the current rate increase extension will protect customers from sudden large rate hikes. 

“Really, our goal is to make small increases over time, so that we’re not increasing the risk of a large increase at any one point in the future,” Mohns said. “So, having these small increases, continuing to close that gap, supports this goal.” 

Three public meetings are scheduled over the next two weeks to discuss the proposal: 

• 5:30 p.m. Aug. 26, Service Center, 203 Olds Station Road, Wenatchee 
• 5:30 p.m. Aug. 27, Leavenworth PUD office, 222 Chumstick Highway 
• 5:30 p.m. Sept. 4, Chelan PUD office, 1034 Woodin Avenue 

PUD staff will give a summary of public input during a rate hearing at the Sept. 16 board of commissioners meeting. On Oct. 7, commissioners will consider a resolution to adopt the two-year extension.