Okanogan PUD 3.75 percent average rate increase begins April 1

OKANOGAN – The county PUD’s cost of power adjustment (COPA) will be delayed while the PUD waits on final financial statements from power sales. Previously announced rate changes will still occur April 1.

Each year, the PUD calculates the COPA based on the actual cost of power the year before. However, some of the 2022 power purchases by the PUD had errors which are being corrected by the agencies that schedule and provide our power. The COPA will remain at $0.003057 per kilowatt-hour until the annual financial statements are available.

Rate changes April 1 average to about 3.75 percent overall, with different amounts per customer class depending on their actual cost of service.

• Residential, 5.1 percent (also continuing to merge the two-tiered rate into a single rate)
• Small general service, 3.25 percent
• Large general service, 1.25 percent
• Industrial, 1.25 percent
• Irrigation, 2.5 percent
• Frost control, 5 percent
• Area lighting, 1.25 percent
• Street lighting, 1.25 percent

In other business, the PUD board held a March 13 workshop with Energy Northwest, which is exploring the possibility of building a small modular nuclear reactor. Energy Northwest already operates the Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant, along with wind, solar and storage projects. The PUD already has a power contract with Energy Northwest for Nine Canyon Wind energy and has expressed interest in purchasing additional baseload nuclear energy if the new nuclear project is built.