PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Public Utility District commissioners approved a new scenario that will raise water and wastewater rates for customers but allow the PUD to support necessary system and infrastructure changes.
Customers can expect a 15 percent increase to their monthly water bill beginning Sept. 30 with a 4.75 percent increase every March from 2024 through 2028.
The current water rate for customers is $76.36 per month. That rate will go up to $87.81 per month in October, and by 2028, the rate will be $110.74 per month.
The wastewater bill will also increase by 9 percent at the end of September, with another increase of 9.61 percent in March 2024 and an additional 9 percent increase every March from 2025 through 2028.
Wastewater rates are currently $80.43 per month but will go up to $88.96 in October, then to $98.40 in 2024. In 2028, it will be $138.89.
This scenario is a slight departure from the three presented to PUD commissioners at their July 24 meeting, when they asked staff to come back with additional scenarios for review during their special meeting on Monday.
Staff presented six more scenarios to the commissioners, two of which came recommended by the staff, and a third was an adjusted version of a scenario presented last week.
Commissioners approved in-house construction with 2024 and 2026 loans, PUD Water and Wastewater Manager Bowen Kendrick said.
The other two recommended scenarios called for a 10 percent bill increase in 2023, with loans in 2024 and 2026, or a 15 percent increase in 2023 with loans in the same years.
The PUD will need to acquire the loans to cover upcoming capital improvement costs.
“Revenue generated from PUD water utility bills covers PUD water expense line items, one of which is debt service on outstanding loans,” Kendrick said. “So the PUD will be seeking additional loans and funds collected by bills will be used to pay off loans.”
Kendrick said the three recommended scenarios assumed that low-interest rate loans (1.75 percent) would be available for necessary borrowing scheduled for 2024 and 2026.
Staff recommended the in-house construction aspect as another long-term cost-saving measure presented last week. This in-house construction crew would be brought on in 2026 ahead of planned water main replacement projects.
“Some of the benefits of having the in-house construction crew are better control and reduction in costs through continuous performance improvement initiatives, utilizing project and work assignments to develop staff and expand competencies, identifying key positions, enabling us to plan for attrition/succession, incorporate risk cost avoidance in Capital Improvement Plan and strategic project financial analysis and continue to prepare and mitigate the risk of major wildfires and natural disasters,” Kendrick said.
The other scenarios outlined by PUD staff can be found at https://clallampud.net/www-cos.
The PUD commissioners also passed a resolution that will be impacted by these increases. It adopted a new schedule of deposits and charges, which includes a Capital Facilities Charge (CFC) increase for new water connections effective Sept. 1.
The CFC for a typical 5/8-inch by 3/4-inch meter will increase from $5,930 to $7,998 and assumes a reduction in 20-year capital investment plan costs due to the savings from in-house construction during water main replacement projects.
“Without in-house construction, the recommended increase to the CFC for a typical 5/8 by 3/4-inch meter would have been $8,376,” Kendrick said.
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Reporter Ken Park can be reached at kpark@peninsuladailynews.com.
