CHELAN COUNTY PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT

'Chelan County P.U.D No. 1'

Chelan County P.U.D. Logo
Established:	1936
Headquarters:	Wenatchee, Washington
Number and Type of Power Generation Plants:	3 Hydroelectric Projects, limited solar, and use of diesel generators in emergency.
Energy Production	9 million megawatt hours
Power Poles	Approximately 25,000
Miles of Line	Approximately 1,950 miles
Customers Served	>43,000
Average Residential Rate	2.97 cents /kW hour

The 'Chelan County Public Utility District', or Chelan County PUD, is a Public Co-operative energy district located in north central Washington, USA. It is owned by its customers and governed by a Board of Commissioners elected by the customer-owners. Though it is not regulated by another governmental unit, a PUD is, by state statute, a nonprofit corporation. PUDs must comply with state regulations for municipal corporations. The local customer-owner of the PUD receives dividends in the form of reduced rates for service.

Contents

History and operations

Hydropower

Other Utilities

Parks

Parks in the Chelan Area

Parks in the Wenatchee Area

Other Parks

See Also

External Links

History and operations

Established in 1936, the PUD began providing electric service in 1947. Today the PUD operates electric, water, and wastewater utilities.
The electric portion of the utility includes distribution facilities—the transmission lines, switchyards and equipment used to distribute power—and hydroelectric systems—the dams that generate power. Under its charter, the District is authorized to purchase electric energy; sell electric energy at wholesale and retail prices; acquire, construct and operate electric generating plants and transmission and distribution facilities; and issue revenue bonds for financing the acquisition and construction of electric properties, or for other corporate purposes.

Hydropower

Chelan County PUD owns and operates the nation’s second largest nonfederal, publicly owned hydroelectric generating system. Two of the District’s hydro projects, Rocky Reach Dam and Rock Island Dam, are part of an 11-dam system on the U.S. portion of the Columbia River. The Columbia is fueled by the fourth largest drainage system in North America. Even during the driest years on record (1928 through 1932), the Columbia River discharged 71 percent of its normal runoff. The District’s third hydro project, Lake Chelan and Chelan River, serves a dual purpose of generating power and regulating the level of 50-mile-long Lake Chelan, the third deepest body of fresh water in North America.
The District's three hydroelectric generating projects have a combined total generating capacity of over 2,000 megawatts of low-cost, clean, renewable power. The three produce about 9 million megawatt-hours of power each year, enough to meet the needs of a city of more than 900,000 people.
Chelan County PUD uses 37 percent of its total generating capacity to meet the electrical needs of its Chelan County customers, including a portion of Alcoa's Wenatchee aluminum smelter. The remainder, or about 63 percent of the total generating capacity, is transmitted throughout the Pacific Northwest over a 16,000-mile grid of high-voltage transmission lines for four principal power purchasers: Puget Sound Energy, Avista Corp., PacifiCorp, and Portland General Electric Company. Chelan County residents and more than 7 million Northwest electric customers benefit from the low-cost energy produced by the District.
The average residential electric rate in Chelan County is about 3 cents per kilowatt hour. By comparison, the average residential rate nationally is 8 cents per kilowatt hour.

Other Utilities

Chelan County PUD also offers water and wastewater services, as well as Washington state's largest open-access, fiber-to-the-premises fiber-optic network.

Parks

Chelan County PUD also owns a network of fourteen parks and recreation areas as part of it's hydroelectric licensing guidelines, seven of which are maintained by the PUD Parks and Recreation Department, seven others are maintained by either a municipal or state government.

Parks in the Chelan Area

In the area around Chelan, the PUD owns and operates Chelan Falls Park, Chelan Falls Powerhouse Park, Chelan Riverwalk Park, and Beebe Bridge Park.

Parks in the Wenatchee Area

In the area around Wenatchee, the PUD owns and operates Wenatchee Riverfront Park, Walla Walla Point Park, and Rock Island Hydro Park (located just south of East Wenatchee in Douglas County).

Other Parks

The remaining parks owned by the PUD are not operated by their Parks department.

★ Daroga State Park

★ Entiat Park

★ Lincoln Rock State Park

★ Orondo River Park

★ Wenatchee Confluence State Park

★ Manson Bay Park

★ Old Mill Park

See Also

★ Wenatchee, Washington

★ Chelan County, Washington

★ Washington

★ Rocky Reach Dam

★ Rock Island Dam

★ Lake Chelan Dam

External Links

Chelan County PUD No.1 Website