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Public Utility District No. 1 of Klickitat (or Klickitat PUD) is a municipal corporation of the State of Washington, formed by a vote of the citizens of Klickitat County in 1938. It is a customer-owned utility, committed to providing electricity on a cost of service basis as a customer service -- not to make a profit for stockholders.

The PUD is governed by a three-member Board of Commissioners. The board sets PUD policy, employs the General Manager and guides PUD operations. Members serve 6-year terms and are elected at the November general election in even numbered years. 

The General Manager is directly responsible to the Board of Commissioners. In carrying out the policies of the Board of Commissioners and in conducting the business operations of the PUD, the General Manager is supported by a trained staff, which includes approximately 45 employees.

The PUD serves 10,000 customers on 1,600 miles of line. It has grown from an original investment of $670,000 to total assets in 1998 of approximately $48 million.

Purpose of the PUD
The chief purpose of PUDs is to generate, transmit and distribute electrical energy. Klickitat PUD operates an electric distribution system serving all of Klickitat County and parts of three other counties, Skamania, Yakima and Benton. Our territory is serviced by two PUD line crews, one based out of the branch office in White Salmon, and the other out of the main service center in Goldendale. 

In 1997 the PUD began generating power for the first time, at a small hydro plant at McNary Dam co-owned by Klickitat PUD and Northern Wasco PUD in The Dalles, Ore. This 10-megawatt plant is engineered to supply about 38 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year; that is about 12 percent of the PUD's annual power needs. Just 18 months later we added a second power plant, a methane-fueled plant at a regional landfill in Roosevelt, Wash. With its first four engines it generates about 60 million kilowatt hours a year. 

PUDs are also authorized to supply water and sewer services. Klickitat PUD serves about 1,000 water and sewer customers in seven separate water and sewer systems owned and operated by the PUD. The PUD's Water/Waste Water Department operates from the Goldendale office of the PUD.

Power Supply
Until 1997, Klickitat PUD purchased all of its power from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which is the marketing agent for federally generated power in the Northwest. As a customer-owned public utility, Klickitat PUD has preference rights to power from these federal projects. The current power market, however, is in a state of flux. To be in a better position for the future, the PUD has widened its power supply options by generating some of its own power and buying some from other sources.