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Protect Low-cost BPA Power for Ellensburg Residents by Pat Kelleher Daily Record, July 11, 2026

To the Editor:

The city of Ellensburg is a preference customer of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), giving it access to some of the lowest-cost electricity in the Pacific Northwest.

Decades ago, BPA adopted a two-tier wholesale power pricing system.

Tier 1 power is a fixed allocation of low-cost federal hydropower based on each utility's historic load. Tier 2 power is purchased at a higher market-based rate to meet growth in electricity demand.

Although every kilowatt-hour (kWh) is physically identical, the wholesale cost is very different. Under the current BPA rate case, Tier 1 power costs approximately 3.8cents per kWh, while Tier 2 power costs about 5.1cents per kWh. Think of it as having the choice of paying $4.67 or $6.26 for the same gallon of gasoline.

As Ellensburg continues to grow, the City will need to purchase more Tier 2 power, increasing its overall cost of providing electricity. One policy option is to allocate the City's lower-cost Tier 1 power first to residential customers, helping keep household electric bills as low as possible.

For comparison, a typical residential customer using 850 kWh per month pays about $98 in Ellensburg. A comparable bill from Puget Sound Energy can be around $169 per month. Unlike Ellensburg, Puget Sound Energy develops its own generating resources and purchases market-priced electricity to meet customer demand. Preserving the benefit of BPA's low-cost Tier 1 power for Ellensburg residents can help maintain one of the community's longstanding advantages: affordable electric service.

If you are concerned about the future cost of your electric bill, please email the Ellensburg City Council today at cityclerk@ellensburgwa.gov and ask them to support the following policy:

Please put forth a motion directing staff to allocate the City's BPA Tier 1 power allocation first to Ellensburg residential customers, with Tier 2 power used to serve load growth and other customer classes as necessary.

This policy will help preserve affordable electricity for Ellensburg households while allowing future growth to be served through BPA's existing Tier 2 pricing structure.