If You See Damaged Equipment, Let Us Know
If you notice a burst pipe or a leaky ceiling in your home, you wouldn’t let it sit without attention, would you? The longer you let damage go without repair, the more expensive and destructive it can become. The same can be said for the Grays Harbor PUD power system. Any damage or interference to our equipment can start small, but quickly turn into a costly and dangerous issue. The PUD has a fantastic team that responds when problems are found, but if YOU notice something that does not look as it should, your PUD wants and needs to know about it. Contact the PUD at 360 532 4220. The sooner we know, the quicker we can make repairs before it becomes a much larger, costly problem.
A Way to Avoid Identity Theft and Scams
Few things are more disruptive or unsettling than having your identity stolen or being taken advantage of by crooks and scam artists. These men and women play on the fears of Grays Harbor PUD customers by calling you and threatening to immediately turn off your electrical service if they do not receive a payment on a supposedly overdue account. If you have received such a phone call, DO NOT under any circumstances give personal information to the callers or send money. Hang up the phone and immediately contact the Grays Harbor PUD Customer Service office at 360 532 4220 to verify your account information. These scams only work when customers volunteer their personal information without first checking in with their service providers, so remember to not surrender any information to these random callers, without first checking on your account status.
Resolutions for a Utility’s 83rd Year of Service
New Year's resolutions are a time-honored tradition. For many people, the start of a new year is a chance to reflect on the past and set goals for the future. This year, the PUD will continue to focus on serving our "Community with high-value utility service at the lowest practical cost." In the past year, even with inflation, it has been our goal to look at opportunities to save customers money. We were able to do that and not raise rates this year. To do this, we were mindful of expenditures, focused on building reserves and evaluated programs that needed to meet financial expectations.
A big step was reducing the uncertainty of buying energy on the spot market. Our process previously in purchasing power allows the PUD to sell excess or buy shortfalls on the open market, impacting predictability. As a small energy buyer, cost fluctuation has made it difficult to budget. Our PUD is moving to a model in which the Bonneville Power Association sells only the energy we need versus what we currently project. This will save money and help with planning for our utility.
As we improve on our cost of power purchasing, we continue to focus on service reliability. With 1825 miles of power line; this is an enormous task. We continue to focus on service line management and preparing for weather events to reduce downtime. In the past year, shortages of critical supplies needed to maintain our system have been a challenge. Our purchasing department has been up to the task of building reserves and planning. We currently have 330 miles of fiber line and continue to expand our lines to improve high-speed Internet access within Grays Harbor.
Our focus has been reliability and consistency to provide the ratepayers with the best value possible. This is a cautious approach, and it is the correct one. However, we live in exciting times with new power sources becoming available: solar, wind, and nuclear. We have a small portion of our energy from these sources, and the cost and reliability of these provide greater challenges than the majority of power derived from hydro. We will continue to evaluate our power mix for opportunities and be at the table for discussions of future possibilities but will continue to focus on reliable, cost-efficient sources.
As we start 2023, we are committed to finding efficiency, keeping our system current and reliable, and serving the ratepayers of Grays Harbor to our highest level. We are looking to this being a great year.
by Jon Martin, District Three Commissioner
Commission Meeting Dates
Meetings are held in the Nichols Building, 220 Myrtle Street, Hoquiam.
January 2023
Tuesday—January 3
Tuesday—January 16
February 2022
Monday—February 6
Tuesday—February 21
Utility workshops are held at 3:30 pm. Regular business meetings are scheduled to begin at the conclusion of the utility workshop. Public comment periods are included at the open and close of every meeting.
Commission meetings may be cancelled, and special meetings may be scheduled. Commission meetings are open to public attendance. Those who wish to attend virtually may do so. For more information, go to www.ghpud.org.