PORT TOWNSEND — A Port Townsend committee will recommend against the idea of the city attempting to form a municipal utility district to provide electrical power within the city limit.
The Alternative Electric Management Committee will recommend to the Port Townsend City Council that it support the Jefferson County Public Utility District in its endeavour to take over electrical power authority from Puget Sound Energy, but that it not pursue the creation of a city-run utility.
The recommendation will be presented to the City Council on Feb. 2, when the council meets at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers in Old City Hall, 540 Water St., said City Manager David Timmons.
A decision is not scheduled to be made at that meeting.
Since October, city of Port Townsend officials have considered the possibility of forming a city district to provide electricity.
The move would be in cooperation with the PUD, and would have to be approved by voters.
In November, voters gave the PUD, which now provides water and sewer service to about 4,000 customers, the authority to provide electric service in East Jefferson County, which is now served by Puget Sound Energy, which serves about 18,200 power customers.
D. Hittle & Associates Inc., a consultant based in Lynnwood hired by the PUD, has recommended that the PUD move aggressively to acquire PSE’s facilities in East Jefferson County by 2012.
No competition
“The only reasons we would operate a municipal utility district would be to protect the city’s interests or to add value to the city,” Timmons said.
“We are not trying to compete with the PUD.”
He said that, once the council receives the recommendation, “we will discuss that, but there is no need to rush into that decision.”
After a presentation from D. Hittle & Associates Inc. earlier this month, the committee discussed the benefits of creating a city-operated utility in cooperation with the PUD.
Hittle, which was hired by the PUD, has recommended that the county utility move to acquire PSE’s electrical infrastructure.
Savings
The PUD consultants told the city committee that if Port Townsend were to provide power to its residents and enter into a city-PUD hybrid utility, the savings would be noticeable.
In the Tier 1 pricing structure from the Bonneville Power Administration, there are three “flavors” for utilities.
A utility that uses under 10 megawatts gets the best price for power.
The price of power for a utility that uses between 10 and 34 megawatts is higher, and those using more than 34 megawatts pay the highest price.
The consultants estimate that the Jefferson County PUD will use about 38 megawatts, putting it in the most expensive category.
But if the city created its own utility, it could take up to 10 megawatts from that total.
City residents would pay the cheapest rates, and county residents would pay the second-cheapest rates — rather than everyone paying the highest.
The idea would first have to be approved by voters if such a utility were to be formed.
Wants to talk
Public Utility District Commissioner Wayne King said he wants Port Townsend leaders to sit down with him and his fellow commissioners.
“We’re trying to set up a meeting with the council,” King said. “I want to see what is the real intention.”
King, who attended the last meeting of the Alternative Electric Management Committee, pleaded with Port Townsend City Council members George Randels and Mark Welch to quickly come to a decision.
“We’re doing it with or without them,” King said. “We’re definitely going forward whether the city is or not.
“It would be nice if they would support us or join us, but it would’ve been nice if they had been working with us for the last year on this.”
King said he was unsure if it would be beneficial for the city to enter into the power business. If it did so, he would happily work with city officials, he said.
“If they asked for it [the power authority within the city], I speak for myself when I say I would give it to them,” King said.
“But they need to get moving on it, because we are moving forward as Jefferson County PUD.”
Timmons said he would prefer the request to come from the other end to avoid a competitive relationship.
“If the PUD came to us and said, we want you to go to the voters, then the council would discuss that,” he said.
“That way it’s not an adversarial role.”
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
