The PUD was formed to provide public power to Snohomish County and Camano Island in one of the first initiatives to the voters in the State in 1936.  Sid is one of 3 commissioners and he represents the north part of the county plus Camano Island.  Although each  commissioner must reside in one of 3 geographic areas, they are elected by all the voters in the District.  If there is a contested primary, only those in the specific geographic area vote.

Within the State of Washington, the PUD is the 2nd largest.  Nationwide it is the 13th largest.  It has 1100 employees and serves a population of 840,000.  Here is a slide that shows the 3 current commissioners, the areas represented, and the role of the Board of Commissioners:

Every dollar the PUD collects supports key programs, services and reliability efforts to deliver power to customers. Despite declining energy consumption, the PUD has been in a strong financial position over the last decade due to the diligence of staff’s cost cutting measures, increased efficiencies and prudent financial practices. The PUD has gone four consecutive years without a general rate increase due to many of these same reasons.

The pandemic has created challenges. The PUD helped more than 12,000 customers, both residential and commercial, through its Community Support Plan, which gave customers affected by the pandemic a one time bill credit. The PUD also expanded eligibility and increased discount amounts for most of its customers in its Income Qualified Assistance Program.  Despite the pandemic, the PUD has delivered power and water and continued moving forward on crucial projects. Since March, the PUD’s commercial and industrial sales are down approximately 6% due to more people working from home and a downturn in the economy.

 

The PUD is a national leader in carbon-free energy.  It is investing in energy storage, advanced meters, renewable power, community solar, and electric vehicles.  It is required to meet the requirements of the state’s Clean Energy Transformation Act. It is already busy planning how it will meet the 100% clean energy mandate in 2045 and continue to serve its customers reliable power. Technology and grid modernization will help. The FlexEnergy pilot program is a great example of how it is planning to work with its customers to decrease energy usage, saving money for the PUD and ratepayers and keeping the fuel mix carbon-free.

 

One of the initiatives is "Connect Up". The installation of new smart meters will begin in 2023.:

 

 

The Arlington Microgrid, one of the first of its kind in the nation, is an innovative project that includes:

• 500-KW solar array

• 1MW lithium-ion battery storage

• 2 vehicle-to-grid chargers

• Clean Energy Center

The PUD received $3.5M from state’s Clean Energy Fund. It includes a Clean Energy Center that will host students, researchers and public. It was energized in July.

 

 

The PUD is going all-in on electric vehicles.  It  is strategizing on how to meet that demand for more power while also how best to invest in charging technology in our community and help customers install chargers at their homes.  It is working with Everett Transit on innovative charging technology for their fleet of electric buses. Two DC Fast Chargers open to the public are being installed at the PUD headquarters in downtown Everett.  It has also increased information on electric vehicles on its website for customers to research cars, chargers, etc. The PUD  has rebates on installing chargers in customers’ homes as well as incentives like “Charge Your EV for Free” incentive for new owners.

 

Because the meeting was in part on Zoom, Sid's complete presentation including answering members' questions can be found on our club's YouTube channel.  For a link, click HERE.