New Ephrata Service Center Project

Grant PUD’s Ephrata Service Center is an approximately 25-acre compound that extends, roughly, from Ephrata Middle School, along A Street SE, north to Division Avenue East.

The center includes mail room, materials yard, transportation shop, warehouse, electric shops, line department and fueling islands. This facility is critical for the reliable and efficient operation of Grant PUD.

Built in the mid-1970s, the center is now aged, outdated and too small and confined to ensure the most reliable electric and fiber-optic service for future needs.

Here’s a look at how Grant PUD has changed since the Ephrata Service Center was built:

1975

Today*

*Electric sales are forecast to continue growing at least 3% annually over the next 30 years.

Grant PUD staff, with the help of an outside contractor, did a comprehensive analysis of this utility’s need for new facilities over at least the next 30 years.

The analysis concluded that the Ephrata Service Center was the facility in most urgent need of upgrades ranging from a bigger automotive shop to handle our extensive fleet and larger trucks, to better security, adequate restrooms, lockers, meeting and workspaces for electric, fiber and line technicians and support staff.

The analysis further concluded that more space is needed and building a new center in a different location would be the most cost-effective, feasible way to replace the existing center.

Grant PUD plans to break ground on a new Ephrata Service Center in approximately August 2025 on 35 acres south of State Route 282, southeast of the Ephrata Walmart. Site analyses are happening now and must be completed before the $525,000 land sale can close.

Benefits

A new Ephrata Service Center will benefit Grant PUD customers by giving our employees the facilities they need to more safely, efficiently and adequately respond to both day-to-day operations, maintenance work, connection requests and emergent outages well into the future. Benefits include:

• Building in a new location will allow existing work to continue uninterrupted while the new center is under construction.

• Crews and workshops that are now in leased space around Ephrata will again be concentrated in a single location for better collaboration and efficiency.

• Faster response times from a more strategic location, farther removed from congestion created by heavily trafficked railroad crossings, busy Ephrata Middle School, active grain elevators, and general traffic from downtown Ephrata.

• Increased physical capacity to keep up with growing demands for power and fiber service in Grant County. 

• Compliance with federal and state requirements for public-service buildings, including the highest resiliency to natural disasters and other business risks.

• Much-needed additional warehousing and storage space to effectively store and protect high-value equipment and material from extreme weather conditions.

• The latest safety features to protect employees working in maintenance shops, warehouses, training rooms and office spaces.

• Modern design for greater security for Grant PUD’s critical power system operations and equipment.

FAQ's

What will the new Ephrata Service Center cost?

We should be able to announce the new Ephrata Service Center’s expected cost by late 2024.

Will this project increase electric rates?

Any capital project that Grant PUD undertakes has the potential to raise rates. This project is necessary and vital for continued utility operations. With careful financial planning, we can reduce rate impacts on capital projects.  The new Ephrata Service Center will be financed over the coming decades to distribute the project’s cost equitably, among multiple generations of customers. This is the way Grant PUD finances all projects needed to keep electric and fiber service reliable and ready for growth.

What will happen to the existing Ephrata Service Center compound?

We haven’t decided yet. Staff and commissioners will, together, study our options.