The saber rattling of a Bonneville Power Administration official isn’t shaking up utilities on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Representatives of the Clallam County Public Utility District, Port Angeles city electric and Mason County Public Utility District No. 1 are sticking to their plans to cut power use 10 percent.
Puget Sound Energy officials are supportive of conservation efforts but do not expect Bonneville rates to affect their customers in Jefferson County.
Bonneville will raise electricity rates at least 75 percent when new contracts take effect Oct. 1, Steve Wright, the agency’s acting administrator, said Wednesday.
But the increase could range upward of 150 percent if the Northwest utilities that buy BPA’s electricity do not reduce demand by at least 10 percent, Wright added.
More details appear in the Friday/Saturday editions of the Peninsula Daily News, on sale throughout Clallam and Jefferson counties. Or click onto “Subscribe” to order your copy via U.S. mail.