PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Public Utility District projects a
$2.5 million shortfall for its electric system and a $512,000 deficit in water systems next year, Treasurer Josh Bunch told the three PUD commissioners Monday.
Projected expenses on the electric system in 2012 are $60.7 million, compared with $58.2 million in revenues, the preliminary budget shows.
By comparison, this year’s electric system expenses are $56 million with revenues of
$55 million.
A final 2012 budget will be approved sometime around Thanksgiving, Bunch said.
“We’re going to have to go back and firm up some of these numbers and see if there’s additional revenues,” he said.
“Or we may need a larger [rate] increase, or we may have to reduce some of the other expenditures and try to sharpen the pencil a bit.”
About $2 million of the expenses can be attributed to the federal Bonneville Power Administration’s 7.8 percent wholesale rate increase that took
effect Saturday.
Since Bonneville is the PUD’s primary electrical power supplier, PUD officials warned in July that it will have to raise electricity rates to customers before the year is out.
The draft budget also contains a $900,000 reduction in conservation rebates required by voter-approved Initiative 937, General Manager Doug Nass said.
Initiative 937 requires utilities the size of Clallam PUD to get 3 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2012.
That requirement goes up to 9 percent in 2016 and to 15 percent by 2020.
Hydroelectric power, which is Bonneville’s primary source of electricity, isn’t considered renewable under the Washington Energy Independence Act, which voters approved by 52 percent in 2006 as Initiative 937.
The PUD passed a resolution in August that supports pending legislation that eliminates the requirement for utilities to purchase renewable energy that it doesn’t need.
“We’ve been talking for several years about the impacts of I-937 and tiered rates, and how eventually those are going to catch up with us,” Bunch said.
“It’s really starting to show up.”
Commissioners Will Purser and Ted Simpson asked Bunch to provide a breakdown I-937’s effect on the PUD budget for the next public hearing.
On the water systems side, the PUD projects to spend $4.3 million in 2012, compared with $3.8 million in revenue.
Commissioner Hugh Haffner suggested that PUD find ways to control its operational, maintenance and administrative costs.
The only public comment taken in the hearing Monday was a suggestion that the PUD provide five-year budget breakdowns going back to 1990.
No significant changes are forecast for the PUD’s wastewater systems in 2012.
Like 2011, expenses and revenues for the four small systems are projected to be between $45,000 and $50,000.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
