By The Herald Editorial Board
While not high on the ballot, the race for the board of commissioners for the Snohomish County Public Utility District deserves the attention of voters.
As a publicly owned utility, its board of commissioners is responsible for representing ratepayers and the district’s residents, not only in setting rates but in guiding a provider of electric and water service with an eye toward keeping both resources sustainable during growing concerns over increasing demand, climate change and their effects on those resources.
The Snohomish Public Utility District, serves about 875,000 residents of Snohomish County and Camano Island, with nearly 6,700 miles of power lines over 2,200 square miles, providing electrical service to 373,000 homes and businesses, as well as water service to more than 23,000 homes. The PUD is the second-largest publicly owned utility in the Pacific Northwest and 12th largest in the nation in number of customers served.
The PUD obtains about 73 percent of its electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration, the federal agency that operates dams on the Columbia, Snake and other river systems as well as other generation sources. It generates about 5 percent of its power from its own hydropower sources, about 6 percent from wind generation and about 16 percent from market purchases.
The board’s three commissioners serve staggered six-year terms,with District 2 — serving the region stretching from Mukilteo to Edmonds and west of I-5 and I-405 — up for election this year. Current District 2 Commissioner Rebecca Wolfe is not seeking reelection to her position, opening the seat to three challengers.
Running for the seat are Julieta Altamirano Crosby, Micah Rowland and Amber King. Each was interviewed separately by the editorial board.
Altamirano Crosby serves on the Lynnwood city council, winning reelection to the council last year. She immigrated from Mexico 16 years ago, earned master’s and doctorate degrees here and runs a diversity consulting business.
Altamirano Crosby said she wants to bring her skills at representation to aid the PUD’s outreach to its customers and the district residents, including the district’s communities of color. The PUD is running amazing programs for new technology, she said, but is missing a connection in engaging residents about the environment, climate change and the PUD’s resources.
As an example of the need for and the opportunities in increased outreach, Altamirano Crosby noted the collaboration now ongoing between the PUD and Community Transit as it begins use of its first electric buses.
Rowland has a background in conservation and environmental concerns. That work led him to protest the culling of sea lions over concerns of salmon predation and eventually to more general political work with local Democrats.
More recently Rowland has served on South County Fire and Rescue’s board of commissioners, where he says he’s developed skills for considering the information provided to the board and using that to make decisions. Rowland pointed to his work with the district to revitalize its volunteer firefighter program, building it from four people to its current staffing of 21 volunteers.
With concerns for the PUD’s main source of electricity, Rowland said the PUD should be participating in discussions of the future of hydroelectric dams on the lower Snake River, as concerns are raised for declining stocks of salmon on the Snake and Columbia rivers. While Rowland said he sees the need to remove the dams to aid salmon and orcas, it will be necessary to discuss more than replacing the dams’ power; a final solution will have to address issues of barge transportation and other benefits provided by the dams.
The PUD is just one customer of the BPA, but it should be part of discussions.
“Our voice carries weight,” he said.
Rowland also is supportive of increasing the size of the PUD’s board of commissioners to five from three members.
“Going to a five member board would provide better representation for the entire county and allow our commissioners to get into some of the things that they need to, such as the overtime issues that we’ve been seeing,” Rowland said, noting the increased use of overtime by PUD workers.
Rowland also expressed concerns for the BPA’s supply of power and effects of demand for power on PUD customers because of growing uncertainty over the reliability of annual snowpack in the Cascades and the unanticipated demand for electricity, especially by AI and other computer server farms.
King, a Mountlake Terrace resident, with 20 years of construction administration, currently works as a contract manager for a community assistance nonprofit that provides technical guidance to small utilities and tribal governments on the West Coast. That work and her interest in policy, King said, prompted her to run for the PUD board.
King said she also has concerns regarding the BPA and would focus on the PUD’s contract renewal.
“As a larger player in the region, the (PUD) should be voicing our concerns,” she said. “I think we should be working collaboratively. I think I can bring some insights to that.”
King also has concerns for growing demand for electricity and where that power is going and wants to ensure that PUD customers’ interests are served.
Regarding the PUD’s implementation of smart meters, King said she sees the advantages to quick and accurate reading of customer usage, but is concerned how the district will use that information, especially if it considers a move to adjusting rates to the time of day and peak usage, and the effect of those rates on lower- and middle-class ratepayers, for example a single mom who might not be able to run the washing machine when rates are lowest.
King expressed support for the PUD’s investments and research in local energy production and storage.
“I think there’s a lot of innovation that could be looked into. A lot of it is just really keeping that big, big lens in mind, making decisions,” she said.
Each of the three candidates offer particular skills and perspectives that would serve the PUD and its ratepayers well. King, however, has a depth of experience and knowledge in the workings of utilities and small governments that would add depth to the current board. Likewise, her experience in contract matters — understanding that the PUD has experienced staff for that work — will allow her to the ability to be an effective watchdog on those issues and explain them to district residents are ratepayers.
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