PUD Posting New Base Charge On April Bills

PUD customers may notice something new on their bills this month. A base charge. Here’s the explanation from a recent PUD newsletter.

If your April bill looks a little different, that’s because it is. The PUD’s new base charge for residential electric customers began showing up on bills starting April 1. This new base charge will increase customers’ bills by just 8 to 10 cents per day based on the type of building that is served (single-family home, multifamily home, or outbuilding) and the amperage rating of the customer’s primary fuse box or breaker panel.

For residential customers, the addition of the base charge serves as the general rate increase approved by PUD Commissioners earlier this year.

Here’s a further explanation of the base charge from the PUD website.

The base charge will apply per meter and be based on the type of building that is served and the amperage rating of the customer’s primary fuse box or breaker panel.

The energy usage (kWh) charge will not increase this year and remains at 10.47* cents/kWh.

The base charge is scheduled to increase incrementally over the next four years. In the future, the increase of the base charge is planned to coincide with a proportional reduction in the energy usage (kWh) charge. Because of that, impacts to customers’ bills will be minimal, with the typical PUD customer experiencing changes of just a few dollars of increase or decrease per month spread out over the four-year period.

The amount of the base charge will be based on home size and type. Customers will be categorized as:

small (multi-family dwellings or small electrical services like garages or well pumps),

medium (single-family homes),

large (large homes with high energy demands) and

extra large (very large homes with multiple structures).

The large and extra-large categories will apply only to new customers connected on or after April 1, 2022.

All customers will pay either the daily base charge plus the usage charge or the minimum bill charge (53 cents per day), whichever is higher. By April 1, 2026, the minimum daily charge will be eliminated.

The future changes to the base charge are designed to be revenue-neutral based on our existing customers’ usage and are not intended to raise additional revenue for the PUD. It will provide increased stability for the PUD as new homes, which tend to consume less electricity due to more efficient designs and/or they are gas heated and thus pay lower electric bills, connect to the electrical system. The base charge will pay for the fixed costs of connecting customers to the grid, including billing and meter maintenance.

*PUD customers actual rate is 10.25 cents/kWh after the BPA Residential Exchange Credit is applied.