Clark Public Utilities customers won’t be paying more for their electric or water services next year.
The public utility’s commissioners on Tuesday adopted the 2017 electric, generating and water systems budgets, which didn’t require electric or water rate increases.
The total operating budget for 2017 is $371.1 million, compared with $369.2 million for 2016. Just under 67.7 percent of the budget — $251.3 million — is represented by power supply costs. Operating and maintenance costs account for 14.2 percent of the budget, or $52.6 million. The remaining 18.1 percent is spent on a combination of taxes, debt service, conservation funding and rate-funded capital projects.
The electric system budget projects a $59,000 operating loss next year, but that may be made up as the year progresses.
“We generally end in a surplus,” said Clark PUD spokeswoman Erica Erland. “We operate under conservative budgeting principles.”
Additionally, the commissioners approved a $17.3 million budget for the water utility, a $1.6 million increase over 2016. Clark’s water system clients are mostly in growing suburban areas outside the Vancouver city limits, including Hazel Dell, Felida and Salmon Creek.
The water utility budget assumes it will end $600,000 in the black next year. The utility also plans $42.6 million in capital projects in the electrical and generating systems. Slated projects include ongoing treatment and replacement of underground cables, substations, transmission and distribution line upgrades and construction and regular scheduled maintenance at the River Road Generating Plant.
Under the capital budget for the water utility, $10.2 million is allocated for main extensions and upgrades with a smaller portion intended for reservoir and well construction.
“The budget process is always a balance between keeping costs down and continuing to invest in reliability through system improvements and infrastructure,” Nancy Barnes, Clark Public Utilities commission president, said in a news release. “For the last several years we’ve been able to strike that balance without an increase in rates due in large part to the staff’s careful management of costs.”
