PUD Board Approves $31.3 Million Budget for 2007

December 22, 2006

At their December 19th, 2006 meeting Columbia River PUD’s Board of Directors approved a $31.3 million Operating and Capital budget for 2007 – an increase of 2.2% over the 2006 budget levels. The budget includes four major goals:

Implement 4.65% rate decrease approved in October 2006
Maintain core operations
Migrate to a new enterprise billing/financial system
Increase funding to cash reserves for anticipated future capital requirements

The approved budget reflects the 4.65% rate reduction authorized by the Board in October. Expenditures and revenues used to set rates were included in the budget levels for operations and capital activities. This will ensure that the new rates are supported by the budget.

The PUD will continue to maintain full funding for core operations activities, including distribution system maintenance, tree trimming, energy efficiency programs and community involvement activities. An expanded $500,000 tree trimming budget will focus on heavily treed rural areas most affected by the fall storms.

“Our customers have high expectation for a reliable electric system and excellent customer service,” said Kevin P. Owens, General Manager. “This budget will ensure we can meet their expectations.”

The PUD plans to spend over $1.9 million on new capital projects and equipment in 2007. A key capital investment is the migration to a new enterprise billing/financial system. The new billing system will replace the current system that was installed in 1989. The installation will take place over a two- year period.

Other major capital investments focus on meeting load growth and improving system reliability. They include purchasing property in the St. Helens area for a future substation, making distribution system improvements and placing overhead power lines underground in outage-prone areas.

The 2007 budget also includes continued funding of a five-year financial plan aimed at increasing cash reserves to $7.5 million by 2009. This reserve will include contingency funds for storms and natural disasters, future power projects and long-term capital construction projects.

“This budget is the third year in a five-year plan to maintain stable rates while assuring we can continue to provide safe, reliable electric service to our customers,” said PUD Board President Carol Everman.

Each year the PUD convenes a budget advisory committee to advise the Board on the proposed budget. The 2007 Budget Committee, comprised of 10 customers representing residential, business, governmental, industrial and low income customer classes, met twice in November to review and discuss the Budget.

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For more information, contact Libby Calnon, PUD Communication Specialist, at lca@crpud.org or (503) 366-3264.

Columbia River People's Utility District provides electric service to 17,500 customers in Columbia and Multnomah Counties in Oregon.

The PUD employs 48 people and had FY2005 gross revenues of $27 million.