Pacific County PUD District #2 commissioners will hold three public forums on their planned extension of power from Raymond to Tokeland and then across Willapa Bay to Oysterville. Currently those areas are served by Grays Harbor PUD.
The meeting for South Beach GH PUD customers from the County Line Road in Grayland to North River has been scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 27, at the North Willapa Grange Hall from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Grange Hall is located on the corner of SR105 and Jacobson Road.
According to the PUD, there are approximately 1100 power service customers on the South Beach that would be effected by this proposal should it come to pass. You all need to learn as much as you can about this plan, attend this meeting, ask tough questions about what such a project would do to your rates and express your views to the commissioners.
Transfer benefits claims
PC PUD commissioners state that the project objective is long-term reliability for customers in north Pacific County. PUD Commissioners Diana Thompson and Ron Hatfield reason that those people in Pacific County that now served by Grays Harbor PUD are not being well served. Commissioner Swanson is not supportive of the project. The following benefits are projected by the PUD to result from the installation of a 115 kV transmission loop:
• Limits areas affected by outage
• Keeps all substations in service
• Minimizes distribution outages
• Fewer customers without electricity for long periods of time
Background
The PUD #2 plan was conceived in about 2000, and a power sub-station was built in Oysterville with power lines extended to that station. Then power from Raymond was extended to North River. At the time, there were citizens who questioned the wisdom of this action, but they were ignored.
When asked by oystermen in the area what the PUD total plans were and whether or not the commissioners had evaluated the effects on the oyster beds, Chief Engineer Jason Dunsmoor reported that nothing was written down and that the information was all in his head. That was proven to be false, as a complete set of drawings were found that pre-dated his comment that defines the entire project.
Costs
In 2000, Pacific County PUD estimated a project cost of $9.4 million, which was obtained through a $10 million bond issue to construct the entire loop system.
Costs-to-date to study the proposal and partially implement it are reported to be $1,681 million. The remainder of the $10 million bond was returned to the bond holder.
Engineering
There has been no basic logical engineering process followed by Jason Dunsmoor P. E. or Dough Miller P.E.. I have asked for their studies. They had none and didn’t seem to even understand what I was asking for.
Reliability objective
Let us examine the objective: Reliability is a very difficult number for laypeople to understand, so I won’t bore you with trying to dazzle you with meaningless numbers.
PUD #2 is using overtime statistics as a measure of reliability. According to their PowerPoint presentation at a commissioners’ meeting on June 13, GH County PUD logged 27,445 hours of overtime and Pacific County PUD District #2 logged 1,961 hours of overtime during the same recording period. By doing the math, that would indicate that Pacific County PUD has a 14-times greater reliability rating than Grays Harbor PUD.
In the Power distribution industry, my understanding is all PUDs are required to have on their internet site “reliability” numbers. These are generally reported as power outages from all reasons: Loss of power source, (Bonneville or a primary failure), equipment distribution failures (wires, power poles).
They record this in a five-year moving average as a 5-year outage average to their customers. Gray Harbor has an entire webpage for you number junkies to look at.
In summary: For just their customers, the average outages due to their distribution system is 60 minutes a year. This is 18% of the system outages, which means 82% of outages are from the Bonneville source and distribution.
Grays Harbor reports the overtime used by their PUD is to perform maintenance on their system at low usage times, in order to not interrupt service. That’s not a part of a Measure of Reliability.
So, what is Pacific County PUD’s Reliability Rating? Unknown — They have no posting on their Webpage.
Based on the fact that there are only 1103 meters on the South Beach in Pacific County that are served by Grays Harbor PUD and there are a total of approximately 17,000 Pacific County PUD customers throughout the rest of the county, the utility’s objective of using improved reliability to accomplish this project is without technical merit.
Oyster and cranberry growers
Pacific County PUD management reports that they have accomplished this interface with oyster and cranberry growers and they have reported no issues. According to the growers, that is not true. Both of these groups have addressed the commissioners in great length and anger over this project. They are not in agreement.
Interface with GH PUD
In the past several years, Grays Harbor reports no interface with Pacific County PUD District #2. Grays Harbor PUD has made many improvements in the distribution system in Pacific County in the South Beach area, and, to my knowledge, have never been approached by PUD #2 to obtain an assessment of the value of their equipment in Pacific County.
Additionally, from a technical distribution standpoint, there is a misconception that there exists a single line separating the two systems. Not true. To sort this out will be very difficult.
There is also a legal issue, which I don’t understand, that implies that Grays Harbor PUD customers must approve the transfer.
Cost projections
• Grays Harbor reports that their income for the year from the 1103 Pacific County customers on the South Beach is $1.1million. But $500,000 of that goes to Booneville power for the power.
My estimate to complete project:
• $1.5 million to run the line to Tokeland.
• $40 million to purchase Grays Harbor system and complete separation of the two systems
• $45 million to cross Willapa Bay. Most experts believe no permit will ever be provided because there are two listed species with habitat that is listed as critical in this area as of 2011.
• $1.5 million to complete Tokeland Sub-station
• $1.1 million to build an infrastructure area for servicing the Tokeland area.
That adds up to about another $89 Million in projects costs.
Where is all that money coming from? From you, the ratepayer. PUD General Manager Doug Miller and commissioner Thompson say that the charge will just be put on our PUD ‘credit card’ and with collection over a long period of time we will never notice it on our bill.
Again, let’s do the math. Let’s say the cost for this project is spread out over a 20-year period. The $89 million bill with interest would be paid by about 18,000 account holders. With interest and principle, each rate payer is looking at an increase in cost for power of about $227 per year for every one of those 20 years. I have seen other estimates as high as $100 per month. At this point, there is no credible cost estimate.
We have many rate payers in Pacific County who are forced to make decisions each day on whether to pay their electric bill, pay for medical care, buy food, or pay for housing.
The PUD commissioners, who each get over $40,000 a year to attend two one hour meetings a month, just don’t have these persons interests in mind.
Commissioner Ron Hatfield, in particular, is clueless. He says he voted for this project long ago and it’s time to move on, so there is really no need to get public input.
What is the real reason this project is being pushed now? I’d say, follow the money. There has been speculation that the property along State Route 105 from North River to Tokeland could be developed, but not unless power is made available in higher capacity. Developers could not develop this property at a profit if they had to pay for the power extension. So… What better idea than to lay the cost of this albatross on the unsuspecting rate payers? Food for thought.
The bottom line here is that Pacific County PUD has never seriously developed a credible cost estimate for the project. Their plan is like boiling a frog, do a little at a time until so much is invested you can’t back out.
Conclusions
• The need is without merit.
• Interfaces are not defined.
• Engineering not accomplished
• Probably it will never get a permit.
• Costs are neither defined nor justified.
• This will destroy many rate payers in Pacific County.
• Jobs will leave the area.
Solution
Stop the project now.
Be prepared to ask questions and make comments. Your view is important.
Ron Craig
South Bend, WA
Ron Craig is an electrical engineer with 52 years experience in development engineering. He retired as a Senior Engineering Manager with Boeing Aerospace.
