Grant PUD Commissioners in December heard a proposal from Andy Wendell, Senior Manager of Large Power Solutions, at the Washington State PUD, for increased application fees for new large load customers.
Wendell pointed to the 76 applicants in a queue for new services with power load requests that are more than 2,819 Megawatts (MW) in increased load.
“What can we do to determine what is real versus speculative?” Wendell said is what his team asked themselves.
Wendell said a major consideration to answer that question is modifying the application process to include a fee that is more in-line with the actual costs of providing services to large-load customers. Presently customers with requested loads between 0.5 to 2 MW pay $2,500 in an application fee. Application fees for loads up to 10 MW are $6,500, while loads between 10 and 20 MW are $15,000, and loads up to 40 MW are $52,000.
The proposed application fee would remain at $2,500 for loads between 0.5 and 2 MW. Loads between 2 to 10 MW would be $50,000 per MW, loads from 10 MW to 40 MW would be $160,000 per MW and loads 40 MW and above would be $240,000 per MW.
The advantage of going from a $52,000 in an application fee for 40 MW to $6.4 million would ensure that the application fee is in line with what it costs to build new power infrastructure for new large loads, Wendell said. Those who pay the increased fee would keep their place in the queue, while those who do not would lose their spot.
Wendell explained that the increased application fee would cover the district’s costs to study how to provide power to the applicant, design needed infrastructure improvements and develop a facilities agreement. Remaining funds from the up-front fee would be part of the true-up with the customer at the time a final cost determination has been made by Grant PUD staff before infrastructure construction begins.
Wendell added that he plans to bring the application fee proposal back to commission for further review and approval early in 2025
