Your PUD

For further information on any area, contact Communications, (509) 661-4258

Rock Island

• First dam on the Columbia River (built by Stone and Webster for Puget Power)
• First power produced in 1933
• Powerhouse expanded in 1953 for Alcoa (dam acquired by PUD)
• Added second powerhouse in 1979
• Generator nameplate capacity rating of 624 megawatts of electricity
• Total of 19 generators (11 vertical and 8 horizontal bulb turbines)

• Construction started in 1956, with first commercial power in 1961
• Powerhouse expanded in 1971, adding four larger units
• Total of 11 generators
• Generator nameplate capacity of 1,300 megawatts

• Finished in 1928 by Washington Water Power; acquired by Chelan County PUD in 1955
• Two generating units; nameplate capacity of 48 MW total; units being modernized to produce more about 60 MW by 2010.
• Powerhouse is along the Columber River,two miles below the dam; fed by penstock 2.1 miles long
• Project regulates surface level of Lake Chelan between 1,079 and 1,100 feet above sea level

Total generator nameplate capacity of PUD’s electrical generation is 1,972 MW, enough to run about a million Northwest homes of average electrical use. One megawatt can supply about 500 average Northwest homes.

• The locally owned dams can generate nearly 2,000 megawatts of power at their peak
• Nearly 30 percent of the output is used to meet retail electric demand and support utility services in Chelan County.
• Another 16 percent is sold by contract to Alcoa’s Wenatchee aluminum smelter, supplying a portion of the power needs of the plant that provides important family wage jobs
• The balance is delivered throughout the Pacific Northwest to long-term power purchasers Puget Sound Energy, Avista, PacificCorp, Douglas County PUD and Portland General Electric under contracts due to expire in 2011 and 2012
• Chelan County PUD is a nonprofit corporation of the state, covered by many of the rules that govern municipal corporations. Dividends are shared with customers in the form of low rates. The District does not make a profit

• PUD created by a vote of the people of Chelan County in 1936
• First electrical service provided in 1947 at Antoine Valley near Chelan.

Contact Customer Service, (509 )661-8002

• Chelan County PUD has about 47,000 electrical customers (about 35,000 residential)
• Chelan PUD has about 5,700 domestic water and sewer customers
• Chelan PUD has about 8,000 fiber end-user connections

Contact Human Resources, (509) 661-4793

• The PUD has about 700 year-round employees
• 2008 payroll was about $66 million

Contact Customer Services, (509) 661-8002

• Residential customers pay about 3.1 cents a kilowatt hour and use about 48 percent of our local load
• Commercial customers pay 3.4 cents per kWH and use about 29 percent of local load
• Industrial customers pay 1.9 cents per KWH and use about 19 percent of local load 
• All electric customers are paying a 9-percent surcharge effective May 1, 2009, for up to 12 months

Contact Finance, (509) 661-4289

• Expenditures budgeted for 2009: $302.9 million (operating and capital) 
• Expenditures budgeted for 2008; $317.8 million (operating and capital)

Contact Engineering and Technology, (509) 661-4151

• Chelan County PUD has built its wholesale fiber-optic network to provide access to more than 28,000 premises 
• A network of private service providers offer high-speed Internet, television, telephone and other services over the PUD’s fiber to more than 8,000 end-users 
• Plans are to build access to 95 percent of PUD customers

Contact Licensing, (509) 661-4180

• New 50-year federal license issued to the PUD for Lake Chelan Hydro Project in 2006
• New 43-year federal license issued to the PUD for Rock Reach Hydro Project in February 2009
• Rock Island Hydro Project licensed through 2028

Contact Natural Resoures, (509) 661-4178

• Unique bypass system installed at Rocky Reach Hydro Project collects young salmon and steelhead on the upstream side of the dam and channels them past the dam through a large pipe.
• Bypass completed at a cost of $107 million in 2003

Contact Parks, (509) 661-4550

• The PUD has built 14 parks that serve more than 3 million visitors a year
• Some parks have been turned over to other agencies to manage

Contact Water/Wastewater, (509) 661-4494

• PUD operates five domestic water systems in suburban Wenatchee and other rural areas of Chelan County
• PUD operates three wastewater systems in rural communities of Chelan County

Contact Generation, (509) 661-4247

• Rocky Reach Dam moderization started in 1995 and finished in 2007 to increase generator efficiency and operate in as fish-friendly manner as possible.
• Total cost for Rocky Reach about $185 million for turbines and generators
• Modernization of the first powerhouse at Rock Island Dam started in 2001 and will continue through 2015 at a total estimated cost of $200 million.
• Modernization of the two turbine-generators and related equipment at the Lake Chelan Hydro Project powerhouse started in 2008 and is expected to finish in 2010 at an estimated cost of $45 million. The two, 24-megawatt units are being replaced with two 29.4-megawatt turbine-generators.