Kyle Roadman, EPUD General Manager
Hello Emerald Customer-Owners,
After a lengthy review process, earlier this week our Board of Directors approved EPUD’s 2026 Budget. This financial plan continues our efforts to increase reliability while keeping rates as low as possible for customers.
The original 2026 Budget Proposal focused on making smart investments in our people and systems without passing through excessive rate impacts. As outlined previously, the environment for utilities is about as volatile as it’s ever been, with significant challenges including:
- Substantial increases in what we pay the Bonneville Power Administration for our wholesale power and transmission.
- Years of inflation within our industry raising our costs across both labor and non-labor categories.
- Lack of clarity on our FEMA claim for the 2024 ice storm forcing us to make alternative plans to rebuild cash reserves.
With these issues in mind, our original budget proposal included a 6% retail rate increase. After rounds of discussion with our Board and the EPUD Citizen Advisory Committee on Finance and Rates, we were able to reduce this to 5%, in line with the prior two years.
This increase will appear as a $4.00 increase to the fixed “Electric System Charge” you see on your bill each month, along with a small increase to the usage charge. For an average Residential customer, the total increase will amount to about $7.00 per month.
I’m happy to report we’ve also been able to push out the effective date for this increase to April 1, 2026. In the two years prior, rate increases were effective on January 1, which we acknowledge can be a hardship during the winter months.
Believe me when I say I know that any increase is meaningful to customers. I want to acknowledge the good work of our staff, who held the line on spending this year to ensure every dollar we collect has a direct benefit to you. While some costs are out of our control, we did everything we could to limit those that we can influence.
Finally, even with this increase, EPUD will remain the second-lowest provider in the area:
We’ll continue working hard on your behalf every day to keep the trust you’ve placed in us.
Please stay safe,
