Chelan PUD Commissioners Approve Rate Hikes

Chelan PUD Commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved a five-year plan that will see several different rate increases.

Increases will include a jump in residential power and wholesale fiber base rates by 3% each year for five years, while water and sewer base rates will go up by 4% each year for the five years. Commercial and industrial customers will see an increase to both their base rates and variable rates.

Increases to base rates will begin June 1st, while commercial/industrial rate hikes begin December 1st.

Commissioner Garry Arseneault said the process to this point included countless meetings, outreaches to the public, consumer groups, and numerous mailings.

"All in all we've had over 3,000 responses from members of the public on this topic." Arseneault explained, "All of those responses and all the comments that we've gotten from the public have helped guide us to this time where we can announce what those moderate rate increases could look like."

Chelan PUD has not had a permanent rate increase since 2000.