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2020 budget approved: no rate increase, more fiber, stronger financial outlook

EPHRATA — Grant PUD commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved a $291 million budget for 2020 with no electric-rate increase for any customer group except the approximately 25 cryptocurrency mining operations classified as "evolving industries."A solid revenue outlook through 2024 and years of careful budgeting and planning have Grant PUD well-posi...

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We filled the bucket!

​Grant PUD employees and customers achieved the goal of having enough donated food to fill the extra-large two-man line truck bucket during the annual Fill-the-Bucket Food Drive last week. The drive, which is a joint effort between Grant PUD and the IBEW Local 77, collected food for local Grant County food banks at Grant PUD's local offices and wit...

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Fill the Bucket Food Drive

Fill-the-Bucket Food Drive 2019 happens Nov. 18 to 22 and includes a food-collection event at the Moses Lake Walmart Wednesday, Nov. 20 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Food donations will be collected in the local offices and HOB for area food banks. Non-perishable foods only, please. The food drive is a great way to interact with the community. Anyone who w...

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Commission Recap 11-12-19: No rate increase in 2020, except for evolving industry

Commissioners unanimously agreed Tuesday that no Grant PUD customer, except those classified as "evolving industry" under Rate 17, will receive an electric-rate increase in 2020. Commissioners Tom Flint, Judy Wilson and Nelson Cox were present for the vote. They said the absent commissioners, Dale Walker and Larry Schaapman, also agreed. "This is a...

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Diggin’ it at Archaeology Days 2020

 Ancient tradition and modern ingenuity were both on display for the nearly 400 area students who attended Archaeology Days at the Wanapum Heritage center on Oct. 15. The first day of this year's 2-day event was geared toward students who enjoyed numerous hands-on and educational activities. Student activities included hide processing, atlatl ...

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Catching fish to make more fish

Record participation for a good cause at King of the Reach salmon derby  VERNITA — Young Alex Herrera pulled back on the rod, the line taught, his back arched against the strain as if he were battling a deep-sea marlin or sail fish. He may as well have been. A video shot by his uncle Jose Merced shows the 9-year-old from Pasco landing a nearly...

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Industry op-ed touts hydropower as key to carbon-free future

​This column by Malcolm Woolf, president and CEO of the National Hydropower Association, appeared Oct. 22, 2019 in The Hill, a Washington D.C.-based news website covering politics and government. The path to carbon free flows through hydropower BY MALCOLM WOOLF, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR The Hill 10/22/19 https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-en...

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Commission recap 10-22-2019: Grant PUD's fiber network set to continue expansion in 2020

With the official completion of Grant PUD's fiber-optic network to customers in Sunland Estates, expansion work is now complete for two of the nine predetermined areas scheduled to get service this year. Construction continues to progress on the remaining seven areas slated to receive access in 2019. Grant PUD's Senior Manager of Wholesale Fiber, R...

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Grant PUD investigating exciter fires at Priest Rapids Dam

Dam operations will be modified during investigation EPHRATA – Priest Rapids Dam operators extinguished a small fire in equipment called an exciter, which provides energy to start up one of the generating units, shortly after 1 a.m. today. The fire affected Unit No. 7 at Priest Rapids Dam. On Oct. 3, there was a similar fire in the exciter for Unit...

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Commissioners oppose removing Snake River Dams

​ ​​​​Grant PUD commissioners Oct. 8 unanimously agreed to oppose breaching the lower four Snake River dams. They cited the value of hydropower as a clean, renewable and necessary resource; the successful efforts of Columbia River dam operators to get fish safety past their projects; and the minimal importance of Columbia and Snake River salmon as ...

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Commission recap 10/08/2019: Financial outlook includes reduced need for rate increases

Grant PUD forecasters see reduced need for electric-rate increases, as a strong financial outlook for Grant PUD is expected to continue, commissioners heard Tuesday during the first two of three scheduled public hearings on the proposed $291 million 2020 budget. "We're in the best financial position we've been in for many, many years at the Distric...

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Focus on Innovation

 Since innovation plays such an important part in Grant PUD's mission and values, we wanted to give you a peek into just a few projects our team has been working on.

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Grant PUD to hold public budget hearings

Commissioners invite all customers to attend, ask questions and provide comment. Grant PUD Commissioners will hold three budget hearings before adopting the utility's 2020 budget later this year. The hearings provide customers with the opportunity to learn how Grant PUD proposes allocating and spending its money next year. The three hearings are al...

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Commission recap 9/24/2019: 2020 budget outlook: Lower debt with minimal effect on rates

Commissioners got their first look Tuesday at a proposed $291 million budget for 2020 with staff recommendations to reduce debt by using surplus cash savings and limit an electric-rate-revenue increase to customers to one-tenth percent. Budget hearings for public comment are scheduled Oct. 8 in Ephrata and Moses Lake and Oct. 10 in Quincy (see sche...

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Commission recap 09/10/2019, 2020 Budget to draw on better data, cost forecast

New processes that allow Grant PUD to more accurately track its costs, together with improvements to forecasting methods, are expected to produce more accurate budgets and ease the rate burden on customers, commissioners learned Tuesday. Commissioners will get their first look at a detailed 2020 budget forecast at their Sept. 24 commission meeting,...

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Safe Fish. Healthy River. Clean Power.

Grant PUD works hard to ensure salmon make it past our Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams and find the habitat they need on our part of their journey to the ocean and back again to spawn. We spend millions annually on research, safe passage, hatcheries, and predator control to boost fish populations and improve river habitat. Through these efforts, Gra...

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Public Hearings on the 2020 Budget

View Budget Presentation You're invited to Grant PUD's Public Hearings on the 2020 budget.  We welcome you to join us at one of the following locations: ​October 8, 2019 2:00 p.m. Ephrata Headquarters Commission Room​ 30 C Street SW, Ephrata, WA 98823 October 8, 20196:00 p.m.Grant PUD's Moses Lake Office Auditorium312 W 3rd Avenue, M...

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Commission recap 08/27/2019, Higher market prices, reduced spending spur improved 2019 budget outlook

Grant PUD is expected to end the year with a bottom line more than $18 million greater than originally budgeted, spurred by higher-than-forecast wholesale prices from the sale of surplus electricity and reduced capital costs, commissioners learned Tuesday. The latest forecast through June (second quarter 2019) predicts a bottom line of $76.1 millio...

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Regional effort to eradicate Northern Pike needs you

By Christine Pratt, Grant PUD Public AffairsLAKE ROOSEVELT — Enjoy fishing for salmon? Then please help eradicate the invasive Northern Pike. The Grant, Chelan and Douglas PUDs are contributing to an effort by tribes and state agencies to control this voracious predator that, if not contained, could set back decades of salmon recovery efforts acros...

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Commission recap 08/13/2019, Wheeling agreement with irrigators extended for another year

Grant County irrigators who draw their water from the federal Columbia Basin Project irrigation system will pay the same "wheeling" fee for one more year to transport over Grant PUD power lines the federal electricity they need to power their water pumps. Grant County PUD commissioners unanimously approved the extension of an existing agreement wit...

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