By Pepper Fisher

CLALLAM COUNTY – Clallam County PUD will soon begin negotiating a new contract with the federal Bonneville Power Administration, the agency that provides hydroelectric power to customers in 8 western states.

PUD District #1 will hold a special public meeting at 1:00 pm on February 8 to educate the public about the history of the existing BPA contract, the current energy environment, and relevant topics regarding the upcoming contract.

It’s a big deal because the new contract will be in effect until 2045, and a lot is going to change in that time. PUD General Manager Sean Worthington says that’s the same time period that our state is requiring that we reduce and eliminate all carbon sources from the power supply. He says our state will be creating more and more of our own electrical power during that time, especially to keep up with the growing electric vehicle trend.

It’s a complicated process, but Worthington says they’re going to make an effort to present the information in a way that the average customer can understand.

“I mean, you’re right. These topics are extremely complicated but, the goal of our presentations is to kind of take a step back for the benefit of our ratepayers and kind of give a 30,000-foot overview of some of these issues and what they mean for us. So, it will be at a level that we hope that everybody can understand. And that’s the point of the question and answer piece too, is that, if customers have questions, we’d like to hear those and so that we can answer them. Because again, it is complicated, but we do want to get the word out as to where we’re at right now with the negotiations and keep our ratepayers informed.”

The meeting is expected to last 2 to 3 hours. Again, the meeting is being held virtually on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 1:00pm.

The Zoom link is available on the PUD website at: clallampud.net/commission-meetings/.

(PUD photo; Sean Worthington)