The Commission approved the following items during its business meeting on Tuesday, June 23:

Grant PUD’s commissioners will host a public hearing, July 28, during their 1 p.m. business meeting, at 30 C ST SW Ephrata WA 98823, to present its 20-year plan for providing service in the most cost-effective way possible by assembling a viable energy portfolio, preserving flexibility, managing costs and reducing exposure to myriad uncertainties. 

Commissioners expressed no opposition to a proposal to round customers’ bills to the nearest dollar in response to the federal government’s decision to discontinue minting new pennies after November 2025. Cash payments are currently rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents. The rounding proposal is expected to have minimal impact on customer bills and Grant PUD’s annual bill revenue.

Commissioners learned Tuesday that a study commissioned in early 2025 by Pacific Northwest utility companies, including Grant, Chelan and Douglas PUDs, shows the region faces an elevated risk of electricity blackouts today and into the future unless states extend deadlines for transitioning to renewable energy, ease obstacles to building more transmission lines and/or allow natural gas be used as an interim backup energy supply.

Grant PUD’s General Manager John Mertlich was invited to attend the Marlin City Council meeting on March 17 to answer questions from residents in the area about Grant PUD’s recent purchase of 960 acresof farm and undeveloped shrub steppe land. The following is a synopsis of the questions from those in attendance with answers primarily provided by Grant PUD staff members following the meeting. 

Commissioners got their first look at an energy resource Tuesday that could be construed as a type of “hydropower” that uses water heated to steam by the earth’s core instead of the cold mountain runoff and ever-flowing Columbia River that powers Grant PUD dams.

Continued rate analysis seeks fairness, stability, reduced risk

Volunteer bee collector Jan Dormaier inspects her net after collecting a native bee at Grant PUD’s Wanapum Overlook viewpoint. The viewpoint’s namesake dam is in the distance.

Grant PUD’s commissioners received an update during their workshop on Tuesday, April 28 about how the ongoing Columbia River Treaty negotiations between the U.S. Federal government and Canada are impacting Grant PUD.

WENATCHEE, WA – Chelan, Douglas and Grant PUDs are considering a partnership to explore the potential for geothermal energy in North Central Washington. The proposal reflects a shared goal to meet regional energy needs through innovation, and deliver resilient, affordable energy for generations to come.

Grant PUD will spend much of the next two years preparing to make a big change in the way it buys the electricity it needs when generation from Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams isn’t enough and sells when the dams generate more than what’s needed to power the county.

A special group of 3,600 “electronic” juvenile salmon and steelhead will get helicopter rides in late April through May to transport them on a special mission for re-release into the Columbia River.

Commissioners hosted March 24 a public hearing on Grant PUD’s Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT), a standardized master plan that will foster the most-efficient use of the capacity on the Grant PUD transmission system.

A scheduled rate increase for Grant PUD customers will start April 1 to counter inflation-fueled increases in costs on everything from wire and transformers to office supplies, plus cover increasing utility operational and capital requirements.

Want to know more about Grant PUD's new rate-setting policy? The following FAQ will help. Why the change to the rate-setting policy?

Work is underway to create Grant PUD’s next, state-mandated Integrated Resource Plan, which describes how the utility will meet customers’ demand for electricity from 2027 to 2046, while maintaining reliable service in compliance with the state’s clean-energy requirements at the lowest electric rates possible.

Note to customers:  Grant PUD commission meetings are normally the last Tuesday of the month. That date was moved up a week this month, to Feb. 17, because three of the commissioners will be in Washington D.C. next week on Grant PUD business. The Feb. 24 commission meeting has been cancelled.

Commissioners could decide at their next workshop Feb. 17 whether to preserve the golf course on Crescent Bar Island or redevelop the 46 acres to support additional camping, disk golf, mini golf or more natural areas that would appeal to a broader range of visitors.

Grant PUD Commissioners unanimously approved new electric rates for all customers during their business meeting on Jan. 27. The new rates take effect on April 1.