Benton PUD: Delivering more than expected now and into the future

This year will be my first as the general manager of the Benton PUD. After more than 33 years as an engineer and manager in the power business, I am excited for the opportunity to lead an organization like Benton PUD with such a long tradition of excellence and high standing in our communities. While we have some big challenges ahead, our incredible team of highly skilled and dedicated employees together with strategic investments in advanced technology and infrastructure are reasons for optimism.

2019 was another milestone filled year for Benton PUD as our customers now have access to several self-service payment options and online tools that enable convenient account management and payment along with the ability to monitor electricity usage on a 24/7 basis. Thanks to prior investments in advanced metering and billing technologies, we also launched Pay As You Go, a prepaid electricity program. Like filling your gas tank or buying minutes on a prepaid cellular plan, our customers can now pay for their electricity in advance. There are no monthly bills and no deposits or fees. All customers must do is work with our staff to configure their automatic notification settings and then keep a minimum balance in their account to avoid being disconnected.

Benton PUD continues to make significant investments to ensure we can “keep the lights on” as our communities experience steady growth and economic development. In response to the planned development of Kennewick’s Vista Field, we significantly increased the capacity of our Orchard View Substation. We also upgraded our Benton City substation with new equipment and advanced technologies to ensure we continue to provide reliable service to our Benton City customers while also allowing for economic development in town and in the Red Mountain area.

We also have plans to complete construction of a new substation in the Southridge area by the end of 2020 to meet the rapid rate of residential and commercial development and to provide for future development of light industrial properties, which can have more extensive electricity demands.

In the end, the backbone of our ability to provide reliable electrical service is our highly dedicated staff of employees who often work in difficult and dangerous environments with an inherently dangerous product – electricity. We are proud of our employees who maintain a strong safety culture that was on full display in 2019, during which we experienced no serious safety incidents.

In addition to electric service, Benton PUD continues our strategic partnership with NoaNet to provide world-class fiber-optic broadband services to schools, libraries, hospitals, government agencies and private businesses. Our fiber-optic system is already a major carrier of cellular telephone services throughout Benton County, and we are beginning to prepare for the expansion of cellular networks and the introduction of 5G technology.

As we look to the future, it is critically important to recognize the need to preserve the long-standing benefits of the Pacific Northwest’s hydroelectric energy. Low-cost and reliable hydropower continues to be the economic engine of our region and has positioned us well for the clean energy era ahead. Thanks to hydro and nuclear energy, Benton PUD’s power supply portfolio is already more than 95% clean. While wind and solar get a lot of press coverage, the clean base-load energy provided by hydro and nuclear power are the dependable and reliable technologies that provide around the clock electricity necessary for the health, safety and well-being of us all.

Thank you for allowing us to be your trusted energy partner.

This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Benton PUD: Delivering more than expected now and into the future."