PUD saves $317,000 through debt refinancing

April 14, 2006

On April 11, 2006 Columbia River People's Utility District (PUD) completed the issuance of tax-exempt Revenue Obligations to advance refund one of the PUD’s outstanding bond issues.

Refunding of the Series 2000B Revenue Obligations resulted in a savings of more than $317,000 in interest over the life of the debt. Favorable bond market interest rates made the refunding attractive at this time.

The bulk of the savings from the refinancing is structured to occur in the next four years, helping to keep PUD rates lower in the near term.

“Effectively managing our long-term debt is essential to keeping rates stable and affordable,” said Board President Carol Everman.

The new Revenue Obligations were underwritten by Banc of America Securities, LLC, and were available for purchase locally and were available through Banc of America and local securities brokers. As a result a number of local customers purchased revenue obligations during the sale.

Presently, the PUD has outstanding debt of $18.7 million, comprising:

• $5.3 million in General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 1996. These bonds were an advance refunding of the bonds initially issued to purchase the distribution system from PGE in 1984.
• $7.3 million in Electric System Revenue Obligations, Series 2000A. These Obligations were issued to pay off a line of credit drawn on to pay for the cost of acquiring additional service territory and facilities from PGE in August 2000.
• $6.1 million in Electric System Revenue Refunding Obligations, Series 2006.