Clark Public Utilities

Clark Public Utilities
Public utility
Industry Electric power distribution
Founded 1938, 78 years ago (as Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County)
Headquarters Vancouver, Washington
Key people
Wayne Nelson, General Manager
Products Electricity and water
Number of employees
380
Website clarkpublicutilities.com

Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County, doing business as Clark Public Utilities and commonly referred to as Clark PUD, is a public utility agency in Clark County, Washington. Clark PUD provides electric service to all of Clark County except for the Georgia-Pacific Camas Paper Mill in the City of Camas, and its water service area covers the majority of the county, excepting areas served by private wells, and the Cities of Battle Ground, Camas, Ridgefield, Washougal, and Vancouver, which have their own municipal water systems.

Organization

After previous attempts in 1934 and again in 1936 failed, Clark PUD was formed by referendum in 1938, when the citizens of Clark County approved a proposal to create a municipal nonprofit organization to provide electric service to the County under the laws of the State of Washington. At the time, Clark County's electric service was being provided by two private utility companies, Portland General Electric (PGE) served the Vancouver area, and the Northwest Electric Company (NEC) served the remainder of rural Clark County. Both companies had waged vigorous compaigns to defeat the measure, and did not readily withdraw from the County even after the measure was approved.

As a public entity, Clark PUD was to be led by a three-member county commission charged with overseeing the utility. Clark PUD's first commissioners were elected simultaneously to the creation of the district, they were Heye H. Meyer, L. M. Jones, and Adolf Ast.

Clark PUD is overseen by the Board of Commissioners, who hire and supervise a General Manager, set policy, approve budgets, establish rates, and approve major expenses. The General Manager oversees day-to-day operations of the District.

Current members of the Board of Commissioners

History timeline

Operations

Clark PUD's electric service area is approximately 628 square miles and covers all of Clark County, except for approximately 500 acres in Camas occupied by the Georgia-Pacific Camas Paper Mill. The electric system consists of 54 substations and switching stations, one generating plant, and approximately 6,600 miles of transmission and distribution power lines.

Clark PUD's established water service area is approximately 220 square miles, but the District's responsibility to operate new water systems covers almost all of unincorporated central and northern Clark County except for areas served by the Cities of Battle Ground and Ridgefield. The primary water system and all of the satellite systems combined include 35 wells, 51 booster pump stations, and approximately 788 miles of water mains and distribution lines.

The District employs approximately 380 personnel, and serves approximately 194,000 customers. The Vancouver Service Center located at 1200 Fort Vancouver Way (45°37′49″N 122°39′48″W / 45.630149°N 122.6632612°W / 45.630149; -122.6632612) serves as the District's primary administration and business office, and the Orchards Service Center located at 8600 NE 117th Avenue (45°41′04″N 122°33′14″W / 45.6844789°N 122.5539012°W / 45.6844789; -122.5539012) serves as the District's primary operations center.

Approximately 30% of Clark PUD's electricity needs are met through operation of the River Road Generating Plant, with the majority of the remainder met through purchases from BPA. Clark PUD also has a share of the wind power generated from the Combine Hills II Wind Farm in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, as well as a share of the generation from the Packwood Lake Hydroelectricity Project near Packwood, Washington.

Clark PUD maintains transmission interties with BPA and PacifiCorp (successor of NEC), and distribution interties for emergency distribution service with Cowlitz PUD and Skamania PUD.

Notes

    External links

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.