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Lewis County PUD Commissioners Make Final Decision on Long-term Power Agreement with BPA by Jacob Moore The Chronicle, November 7, 2025

The total amount of power from the "Slice" contract
depends on power output for the specific year,

The Lewis County Public Utility District (PUD) Board of Commissioners gave final approval to execute a nearly 20-year-long contract with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) this week.

The contract outlines how the local utility will purchase power from the region's biggest power provider.

PUD Commissioners Dave Fenn, Mike Hadaller and Dave Muller voted unanimously during the board's Tuesday business meeting to authorize PUD General Manager David Plotz to sign a new "power sales agreement" with BPA. Once signed, the contract will take effect starting Oct. 30, 2028, and last through Sept. 30, 2044, with an opportunity for the utility to change product choices just once in that time.

The new contract commits the Lewis County PUD to a new power product from BPA that allows the local utility to purchase blocks of power for the year and allocate the power differently for each month in order to meet the county's increased needs in the winter. The new product is a change for the local PUD that in its current contract with BPA uses a product referred to as slice/block.

Under the arrangement, utilities purchase a base guaranteed amount of power and an additional percentage or "slice" of power output each year. The total amount of power from the slice depends on power output for the specific year, which can be impacted by policy and weather conditions.

The PUD commissioners had signaled their desire to go with the new block power product over the summer, deciding to follow the recommendations made by PUD staff, as previously reported by The Chronicle. The decision came after months of presentations from staff on the pros and cons of the different power products. In July, the commissioners told PUD staff to move forward with a contract for the new block product while they continued to consider the competing products ahead of a final decision.

In the end, the commissioners stuck with the recommendation from PUD staff by committing fully to the block product.

BPA has now offered a contract to the local utility for its chosen power product ahead of a Dec. 5 deadline to come to a new agreement. According to Plotz, the motion by the commissioners on Tuesday now allows him and PUD staff to iron out the final numbers with BPA and sign the contract on behalf of the commissioners.

"We did all that discussion and we made a selection to take a certain kind of contract," Plotz said. "This is the contract."

A draft of the contract is available to the public on the Lewis County PUD website included with the slides from the Tuesday business meeting. To view the contract, visit tinyurl.com/ytszvya8. The contract begins on page 41 of the slides.

For previous reporting on the power purchase agreement decision made by the Lewis County PUD, visit tinyurl.com/4spufrvw.

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