Benton Public Utility District voters chose Barry Bush as a new commissioner, according to the Benton County Auditor's Office, which released the final major tally from the Nov. 6 election.

Bush, the challenger for Position 3, had received 20,442 votes -- or 51 percent -- to Robert Bertsch's 19,547 votes.

Bush worked several years as an energy services representative at Energy Northwest. He said during the campaign that he was concerned about rising power costs because of Initiative 937, which will require Benton PUD to buy more power from qualified renewable sources such as wind and solar.