First published on April 24, 2019, in the Basin Business Journal - Moses Lake, WA
The historical information for this article was taken from a series of 1965 newspaper articles.
How did Grant County get its own Public Utility District? Those who have grown up in the county have taken the Grant County PUD existence for granted. They offer cheap, reliable power to those they serve. If one were to take a look at Grant County 100 years ago, electricity was sparse to non-existent.
The Grant County PUD was formed by a vote of the people on Nov. 8, 1938. That vote was a result of years of persistent work by those who opposed private entities, mainly Washington Water Power, owning electrical companies.
The first city in Grant County to get private power was Ephrata in 1916. It was a started “in an old stone garage” with a generator producing power, wrote Dave Johnson in a Grant County Journal article printed on Mar. 4, 1965 entitled “City Plants Furnished First Electricity.” The generator was turned on “each evening from dusk until midnight.” It was also turned on Monday mornings for the convenience of housewives who owned electric washing machines.
Quincy received power next, in 1917. Wilson Creek and Soap Lake also had privately owned power plants. These early power companies were small and typically didn’t have many customers.
Washington Water Power Company announced in January of 1922 “that it would spend $300,000 to build a 70-mile transmission line from Odessa to the areas of Marlin, Wilson Creek, Stratford, Adrian, Grant Orchards, Soap Lake, Ephrata and Moses Lake (Neppel) to provide electricity for pumping water from wells and lakes to 25,000 thirsty acres,” wrote Johnson in a Mar. 11, 1965 article entitled “Washington Water Power Enters County.”
Lines were strung immediately and were ready for use in May 1, 1922. The coming of electricity was a cause for excitement, with a celebration being held in Ephrata on May 12 and 13. Power allowed farmers to pump irrigation water to the desert.
“As early as 1921, the Washington State Grange was promoting a state law which would permit public acquisition of private power systems,” Johnson wrote in “PUD#1 Never Got Off Ground” that was published on Apr. 29, 1965.
Several attempts were made to get the law passed, but it failed four different times. Washington Water Power did not want this bill to succeed. They and other private “power companies fought the utility district bill by reducing rates, extending rural lines and announcing plans to build new power plants,” wrote Johnson. They claimed that the bill was “the most dangerous tax increase measure ever submitted to voters of the state.”
During this same time, the Washington Water Power Company was fighting the creation of the Grand Coulee Dam. While they agreed that the Basin needed irrigation, they were opposed to any idea that included a dam that generated electricity. The battle over the dam lasted many years with the proponents of the dam winning the battle.
Finally in 1930, the bill to allow public utility districts was put on the ballot as a voter initiative and passed.
“On Oct. 5, 1931, a petition signed by 55 property owners in the Neppel precinct was presented to the Board of County Commissioners, asking that a PUD district be created in that area,” Johnson wrote.
It wasn’t until the election of the following year that the PUD was set up. The purpose of this PUD was to allow farmers who lived out of the Washington Water Power area to band together to pay for the construction of power lines to their homes and farms.
Once the formation of this PUD was approved, it was named Public Utility District No. 1 of Grant County. It was believe that there would be other utility districts forming, due to the lack of coverage that this district had. However, this PUD never became anything “more than a ‘paper organization,’” Johnson wrote. It never built any power lines or levied any taxes.
There was growing discontent with the way Washington Water Power dealt with those wishing to connect to their lines.
There “were a group of farmers who had built an extension line on a co-operative venture to hook up the Washington Water Power transmission lines near Wilson Creek,” wrote Johnson in the article entitled “Grange Led Fight To Create County PUD in 1938,” published on May 6, 1965. “Like others who had become rural customers of Washington Water Power, they were required to deed the line to the company as well as the transformers.”
During the general election on Nov. 8, 1938, a new public utility district was approved by voters. At the same time it was approved, three commissioners were elected.
“Grant County Public Utility District No. 2, the first county-wide PUD in Grant County, became the 18th such district to be formed in the state of Washington,” wrote Johnson.
Unlike the first utility district, this new district began levying taxes the following year. The first two years were spent organizing and exploring how they were going to acquire power lines.
On Dec. 30, 1941, the Grant County PUD was approved for a $600,000 loan through the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). The REA had been created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 11, 1935. All the money that have previously been levied had gone to setting up the PUD on paper. The loan, of which only $50,000 was borrowed, was used to purchase the PUD’s first two electric companies. One was in Soap Lake; the other was in Coulee City. These two systems totaled 24 miles of electric lines. Once these lines were making money, the PUD began looking at what other lines they could purchase. They set their sights on Washington Water Power lines in Grant County, with the exception of the Warden and Hartline areas.
On Nov. 13, 1944, a trial began between the PUD and Washington Water Power for condemnation of the private companies power lines. The trial lasted 17 days with jurors awarding the lines to the PUD for $546,984.80. Washington Water Power believed that their lines were worth twice that amount and sought a new trial. In June of 1945, the PUD gave Washington Water Power a certified check for $46,000 over the previously stated amount.
“The difference represented an increase in property valuation granted by the PUD in return for an agreement by Washington Water Power Co. to drop its appeal, and for accumulated interest on the amount awarded by the court back in December,” Johnson wrote, in the article “Condemnation Suit Launched PUD Into ‘Big Time,’” printed on May 27, 1965.
In the years to come, Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams would be built. Smaller projects, in the form of the Quincy Chute hydroelectric project and the Potholes East Canal Headworks hydroelectric project, would be constructed. Fiber lines would begin to be laid to provide the county with high speed internet. And the Grant County PUD would continue to provide cheap electricity to the residents of Grant County.
