CORRECTION — The number of UAC members is corrected.
PORT ANGELES — The City Council has approved an ordinance amendment to industrial transmission rates that allows Nippon Paper Industries USA Co. to continue to pay no electrical utility base rate for a few more months.
The council on Tuesday approved the temporary measure with a 5-1 vote, with Councilman Max Mania opposed and Deputy Mayor Don Perry absent.
The electrical base rate pays for the essential personnel, services and equipment required for the city utility.
City staff proposed the establishment of a base rate to pay for personnel who handle billing and other services surrounding the transmission, but council members said they needed more time to figure out exactly what that base rate should be.
“This ordinance changes the base rate of only one customer: Nippon,” said Sissi Bruch, who is challenging Perry for his seat in the Nov. 8 general election.
“There are many other local businesses in the city that are struggling to maintain their staff and make their electric bill payments,” Bruch said.
Nippon built and maintains its own transmission facilities and is the only industrial transmission customer in Port Angeles, council members said.
Half of consumption
Nippon purchases almost half of all of the electricity consumed in the city, said Councilwoman Cherie Kidd.
The amendment was intended to give the council more time to review the base rate for the city’s only industrial transmission customer, Kidd said.
A two-hour Utility Advisory Committee meeting to discuss the issue turned into more than four hours, and even then, there was still more to discuss.
“We need more time,” Kidd said.
By Oct. 1
The city was required to pass a utility rate for industrial transmission customers by Oct. 1, but UAC members said they did not believe they could do a complete study of the industrial transmission base rate before that time.
It is better dealt with during budget discussions, with new rates being instituted by January, Kidd said.
Mania said he agreed they needed more time.
However, he objected to approving the temporary measure with zero remaining as the base rate and was the only council member present to vote against the amendment.
The City Council also added a new seat to the Utility Advisory Committee, or UAC.
The panel had five members that met routinely with a sixth member, who voted only on Medic I issues, joining the panel perhaps once a year, said Glenn Cutler, director of public works.
Mania objected to the number of UAC with connections to Nippon at an earlier meeting and requested an additional member be added.
That addition creates a committee of seven, but since one member joins the group infrequently, most meetings will have six members voting.
The council agreed to his proposal and will be taking applications through the City Clerk’s Office for appointment to the committee.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
