Public Utility District No. 2 of Pacific County increased retail rates on average by 8.54% beginning October 1, 2011. 

The increase ranged from a low of 8.04% to a high of 8.67% depending on the customer class.  For a residential customer with average electricity usage of 1032 kilowatt hours per month, the increase amounts to an additional $6.38 on each monthly bill.  This number will vary each month throughout the year being higher during winter months and lower in summer months depending on your actual usage.  If your monthly consumption is higher than 1032 kilowatt hours per month, this additional figure will be greater and just the opposite for lower electrical usage.

The majority of this adjustment in retail electrical rates is due to an October 1st increase from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) in wholesale power costs of 7.8% on average.  Your P.U.D. purchases approximately 99.9% of our wholesale needs from BPA, the remainder from the market.  This increase also helps with District reserves to cover monthly swings in the cost of purchases from the market when BPA resources are constrained due to low water or fish.  In addition, a small portion of these new rates will be used to cover internal operating costs, such as material to maintain or extend the electrical infrastructure.  There has not been a rate increase over the last ten years to use for internal cost increases, financials have been managed instead through efficiency within the annual budget process.

When analyzing the retail rate structure, a four to five year window was reviewed and retail rates amended to reflect this period.  It is anticipated that retail rates will only be adjusted over this period for changes in wholesale power costs through the power cost adjustment factor, an element that has been used by the P.U.D. over the past ten years.  The power cost adjustment figure has been reset to zero for now and will only move as wholesale power costs to the District change over the next few years.