Where Wasco County Gets Our Electricity

Our Historic Power Source:

Publicly-Owned Renewable Hydro-Power

Antelope, Shaniko and most of Southern Wasco County have always been served by WASCO ELECTRIC CO-OP.  Northern Wasco People's Utility District serves north county including The Dalles. 

The Dalles Dam on the mighty Columbia River.

Wasco Electric Co-op

"Wasco Electric Cooperative was the first utility to purchase power from Bonneville Power Administration in Wasco County."

Most of the farming community in Wasco County did not have electricity in 1940. Pacific Power and Light Company ran its powerlines from town to town, but it was very expensive for farms along the way to be hooked up.

Eric Johnson, a rancher who lived near The Dalles, could see the powerlines from his house, but could not get service. He decided to meet with some of his neighbors to try to get electricity for the farmers. They met for the first time on April 4, 1940 in the Dufur City Hall and elected the Board of Incorporators... the area served by Wasco Electric Cooperative, Inc has grown to over 5,000 square miles in five counties - Wasco, Sherman, Jefferson, Gilliam and Wheeler. We have over 3,000 members with 1,685 miles of lines...

http://www.wascoelectric.com/aboutWasco/

Community Involvement

Commitment to community is a founding principle of electric cooperatives, but it is more than just talk. It describes the cooperatives and its employee’s commitment to donate time and money to local causes and assist the local communities in which we serve and live. As a local business, staffed by your friends and neighbors, Wasco Electric looks for ways to make a difference – beyond delivering electricity. Here is a look at some of the ways your co-op is helping the communities we serve.

• Sponsorship of community events
• Donations to local food banks
• The WECare program for energy assistance to those families struggling to make ends meet
• Annual Community and Economic Development grants
• Donations to local fire departments
• Donations to High School graduation events
• 4-H buyer at the local county fairs
• Sponsor students to attend the Idaho Youth Rally and the NRECA Washington, DC youth Rally
• Providing electrical safety programs to the local grade schools

http://wascoelectric.com/aboutWasco/communityInvolvement.php

 VISIT Wasco Electric at :

WASCO ELECTRIC CO-OP HOMEPAGE

Northern Wasco County People’s Utility District

Northern Wasco County People’s Utility District provides electricity to homes and businesses in the ‘northern’ part of Wasco County including The Dalles....

Farmers Wanted Power
From 1910 to 1939, Pacific Power & Light was the sole provider of power to The Dalles and Dufur. It was their refusal to provide power to outlying areas unless there were 4 customers to the mile that started unrest amongst rural residents in Wasco County. In 1932, upon urging from the Granges, Chambers of Commerce, labor unions and other groups, Congress passed the Bonneville Power Act. This act authorized construction of the Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams and established that this power would be available on a preference basis -- first to city-owned power plants and other publicly owned power districts; secondly to cooperatives...

Grange Action
The Granges in Wasco County in 1938, acting collectively through their Pomona Grange legislative body and on behalf of farmers in Wasco County, petitioned the Oregon Hydroelectric Commission to establish a People's Utility District in Wasco County...

Becomes Power Generator
From its early beginnings, the board of directors of the PUD have demonstrated independence, fortitude and foresight. In the 1970’s, Bonneville was investing heavily in the now defunct WPPSS nuclear power projects. The Northern Wasco PUD board was concerned and in the early 1980’s took bold steps to gain some control of its future power supply – to generate locally-controlled, reliable power without damaging the environment....

http://www.nwasco.com/history.cfm 

Green Power Program

Northern Wasco County PUD offers its residential, commercial and industrial customers the option of purchasing up to 100 percent renewable electricity through its new program, Pure Power.

http://www.nwasco.com/green-power-program.cfm

Visit Nothern Wasco PUD at:

Northern Wasco PUD Website

LEARN ABOUT NW REGIONAL PUBLIC POWER

Use links below to visit:

Northwest Public Power Association

The Northwest Public Power Council

Oregon PUD Association

The Ruralite

Power of Community

National Rural Electric Cooperative 

WIND POWER RAISES OUR ELECTRIC RATES.

And the power goes to California!

New industrial wind turbines we don't use will raise our electric rates even though the "wind farms" are owned by private corporations.

Ruralite Magazine reports: "...the majority of wind power is produced by independent energy companies for markets in California..."

April 6. 2012 - Front Page

The Dalles Chronicle:

WIND PLAN WILL COST PUD

Customers will have to pay for oversupply plan

... Bonneville Power Administration has come up with a plan to make sure the wind generators don't loose too much income if the same thing (oversupply) occurs again, but the plan comes at a price to regional utility customers, including those of Northern Wasco County People's Utility District (PUD). Unsurprisingly PUD leaders don't think too kindly of the plan. Why? Because Bonneville, in addition to replacing the power lost due to oversupply will compensate the the wind generators for lost revenues, including renewable energy credits and production tax credits- at a cost to other users of power on the federal transmission system.

"I call that another entitlement program" said Director Howard Gonser...

(No link is available for this story but go to http://www.gorgenews.com/ to obtain the complete story via subscrption.)

Sept. 2011

From the Ruralite:

The True Cost of Wind Power

 (T)aking a close look at the pros and cons of wind power. OTEC believes its members need to hear candid discussions about the ramifications of bringing this much wind power online in a short span of time. .

http://www.ruralite.org/archive/2011/Sept_2011/c-48%20p%204-5,%206-7%20sept%202011_2011.pdf

From the Ruralite:

A Windy Dilemma

Utilities are challenged to integrate wind power and--for some--to provide electricity to a surprising customer: the wind farms...  "The wind farms comprise our largest individual consumer,"  (Jeff Davis, general manager of Wasco Electric Cooperatives) ays, noting that together they account for 13 percent of his utility’s load...

While the power they draw is generated locally, most of the power they produce is shipped out of the area.

Electricity is needed to keep lubricants for the turbines warm, run the computers that reposition blades into the wind, and power offices and substations. All components are fully functioning even when the blades are not turning.

http://www.ruralite.org/magazine/articles/a-windy-dilemma/

From the Ruralite:

High-Wire Act

While the majority of wind power is produced by independent energy companies for markets in California, a few smaller wind farms are operated for public utilities in the Northwest that participated in their development.

The pace of construction is not slowing. Several more wind farms are in the works. BPA is expanding its transmission system to meet the growth of wind power. The federal agency predicts wind capacity could double by 2013, with as much as 10,000 MW of wind power on its system by 2016, if development trends continue.

http://www.ruralite.org/magazine/articles/high-wire-act/

January 6, 2011

 Freedom Pub

Subsidy for wind energy will raise electricity prices on everyone

In the first step in an FERC scheme to socialize transmission costs nationwide to subsidize wind and solar power the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is forcing states to pay for $20 billion in new transmission lines needed for wind power...

The Wall Street Journal points out

“In fact, this is the first step in a FERC scheme to socialize transmission costs nationwide. In June FERC drafted a rule to create a new national transmission pricing policy that would link wind and solar energy projects to the national electricity grid. (See our November 7 editorial, “The Great Transmission Heist.“)”

“Let’s be very clear on what’s happening here: Mr. Wellinghoff and FERC are trying to establish by regulatory fiat a national energy policy that Congress has refused to endorse. ...”

 “The wind industry has essentially conceded that without the ability to socialize the cost of multibillion dollar transmission lines, its projects can’t compete...

http://www.freedompub.org/profiles/blogs/subsidy-for-wind-energy-will