Grant PUD Weighs Rate Changes To Shield Core Customers From Big Energy Users

Grant PUD in Ephrata, Washington, is actively reviewing its electric rate structure with the aim of shielding core customers—including residential users, farms, and small businesses—from increasing energy costs. These rising expenses are largely attributed to the growing electricity consumption by major industrial users, particularly data centers. Jeremy Stewart, Grant PUD's manager of Rates & Pricing, informed commissioners that data centers and other high-energy industries now represent 48% of the utility's retail electricity sales, a figure expected to significantly increase by 2035.

The utility's rate team has put forth several refinements for commissioner approval. Key among these is a proposal to establish a new "high-density" computing rate specifically for data centers, encompassing operations such as cryptocurrency, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. Additionally, a separate pilot project suggests implementing a "capacity reservation charge" for industrial customers who have been allocated power but are not yet utilizing their full amount, requiring them to pay a fee to reserve the unused portion.

Further proposals include creating a public-service-focused rate to extend core-customer-type protections to public buildings like schools and hospitals, and a "rate-stabilization" mechanism to recover costs from energy market fluctuations or severe weather events. Commissioners are currently studying the proposals, particularly the public service rate, and anticipate further discussions in upcoming workshops and meetings.