PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County Public Utility District commissioners will begin discussions today regarding a draft business plan for expanded broadband internet access.
The commissioners will conduct a special meeting via Zoom from 10 a.m. to noon to discuss the plan and local utility districts.
Residents can watch the meeting at https://zoom.us/my/jeffcopud or can join by calling 833-548-0282 and using the meeting code 4359992575#.
This is the first reading of the draft plan, so changes are expected as discussions continue over multiple meetings, PUD Communications Director Will O’Donnell said in a phone interview Friday.
The PUD worked with CCG consulting to develop a plan to bring high-speed internet to more Jefferson County residents, O’Donnell said.
High-speed internet is defined as speeds higher than 25 megabytes per second, which about 70 percent of county residents lack, he said.
“The summary story is that it’s going to be very difficult,” O’Donnell said. “It’s a tough business and it would be a long time towards breaking even, and if we were to break even, it would involve a lot of things going right that could otherwise go wrong.”
The estimate to have fiber-optic connections extended and made available for all Jefferson County residents is more than $90 million, he said.
“That is an estimate of what could happen, that’s not necessarily what we’re even looking to do,” O’Donnell said. “One of the first steps for the board is decide to what degree do they want to get into the fiber business and what is their overall goal.
“Is it to provide services everybody? Only to people who don’t have it? Or only as makes financial sense for the PUD or our ratepayers? All those things still need to be determined.”
Currently, the PUD can only offer internet services wholesale to other internet providers such as Wave Broadband or CenturyLink, O’Donnell said.
The state Legislature is currently considering two bills, House Bill 1336 and Senate Bill 5383, which are currently in the opposite chamber’s committee and would allow for PUDs to offer internet to retail customers. That would increase funds for PUDs and potentially make them eligible for federal grants, O’Donnell said.
Providing retail services “would be one of the factors that make the likelihood of our being successful at not losing money in the broadband endeavor go up,” he said.
The full draft plan as of Monday can be read at https://tinyurl.com/PDN-PUDAgenda.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
