Covington, Maple Valley and Black Diamond figure prominently in Puget Sound Energy’s plans for a $421 million boost to its customers’ power supply.
Of the total amount the company is investing – approximately $421 million – in service-area infrastructure improvements in 2008, $247 million is earmarked for capacity and reliability upgrades, and about $174 million is allocated to meet the growth in customers’ needs, officials said.
The approximately $23 million in local projects include a substation in Maple Valley, a new power transmission line for the Covington area, and a Black Diamond natural gas pipeline. All three will benefit customers, the company said.
Construction is scheduled to begin next spring on the Four Corners substation in Maple Valley.
The electricity distribution will cost an estimated $5.5 million and will meet increased demand for power in the Maple Valley area, according to Puget Sound Energy (PSE).
Nearby residents have registered complaints about the project, including at public meetings. But PSE officials say the substation – to be located at 27430 Maple Valley-Black Diamond Road SE. and have one 25-megawatt transformer and the space for a second transformer of the same size – will improve power capacity and reliability.
In the Covington-Berrydale area, a new transmission line is scheduled to be finished this fall. The approximately $12.6 million project will improve reliability and keep up with growth in the Covington area, PSE officials said.
The new line, running between PSE’s Berrydale substation just north of 256th Street Southeast and the BPA substation near Covington Way Southeast, will create a loop system in which electricity can be delivered to the same point from different paths in case one path is out of service, officials explained.
PSE plans to start construction this fall on the Kent-Black Diamond natural gas line. The company said the estimated $5.2 million project will reinforce the existing system serving Kent, Auburn, Federal Way and Vashon Island.
Meanwhile, PSE last month asked the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission for permission to raise customer rates in order to pass through the higher costs the utility pays for purchasing natural gas supplies.
The increase, which PSE has asked to take effect Oct. 1, would raise PSE natural gas bills by 11.1 percent overall, across all groups of customers. For households using the year-round average of 68 therms of natural gas per month, bills would increase an average of 10.3 percent, or $8.49 a month, according to PSE.
The rate change would bring the average monthly residential bill to $90.64 — about what the utility’s customers were paying in October 2006.
PSE noted that for the 2007-08 winter, lower wholesale natural gas prices contributed to an overall 13 percent rate reduction for its customers.
“Natural gas prices have been very volatile and increased significantly since the (Utilities and Transportation Commission) approved our request for a 13 percent reduction a year ago,” said Bert Valdman, PSE executive vice president.
