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PUD Electricity Rate Hike Looms by Staff Spokesman Review, October 14, 2010

Port Angeles -- Clallam County PUD may be raising electric rates higher than first thought.

PUD commissioners are now considering an eight percent hike in the rates beginning this fall. Previously, the PUD thought the increase would be about five percent.

PUD spokesman Mike Howe says higher operating costs and a wholesale power rate increase from the Bonneville Power Administration are driving the local proposal. Howe says the average home bill will go up about seven dollars a month.

Howe says another reason for higher rates might be the voter-approved Initiative 937. In 2006, voters said yes to a requirement that utilities must get 15 percent of their power from so-called renewable resources by the year 2020. Those sources cost three to five time more than traditional power sources.

The PUD Commissioners will hold a rate hearing Monday, the 18th, and are expected to make a final decision at its October 25th meeting.