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Mason County PUD 3 to extend
demand
ponse program
By NATALIE JOHNSON By turning offthe heating coils of the looking for volunteers.
water heater during times of peak de- Himlie said it's too early to say ex-
Since last summer, Mason County mand, Himlie said, the utility's power actly how successful the program is, but
PUD 3 has been working with Allyn load is reduced and it does not have an the units are working and sending in
Technologies on its Grid Mobility proj- adverse impact on a customer since the data.
ect. . average of 60 gallons of water in a water "Right now what we have is a huge
This week, the PUD got approval heater will stay hot for some time. amount of data that we're still trying to
from the Bonneville Power Administra- Also, the PUD can use the units shuffle through and make sense out of,"
tion (BPA) to extend the project until at to store power during periods of high he said. "Early on we were focused on
least next June. supply, such as during high winds. If getting them in and getting them work-
"It was supposed to run through the the utility predicts high wind, it will ing and then ... we have to have a cer-
end of next month, but there were some turn off the heating elements before- tain amount of baseline data."
delays with delivery of the devices, in- hand, letting the water cool down. While the pilot program is fairly
stallation and various things that put During the wind, when supply exceed- small, if the data shows that the PUD
us behind schedule, so we're in discus- ed demand, the PUD would turn on and customers could save money with
sions with BPA," said PUD 3 power the heaters and store excess incoming the devices, the utility plans to expand
supply manager Jay Himlie. "It's up, electricity, Himlie explained, the program to more customers on a vol-
it's operating, we're getting data, we're Mason County PUD 3 has received unteer basis.
looking at expanding the monitoring pc- national attention for its part in the ex- "That's actually our intent ... to see
riod." perimental program, most notably in a how well it works and kind of what
The Grid Mobility pilot program, in Time Magazine article, the economic value to the utility is and
effect since last summer, is designed to "There's actually a scientist from the then how we translate that into what
address power demand and supply on National Renewable Energy Labs that's an incentive would be for the custom-
the spot to save the customers utility working on various wind integration ers to participate in the program," he
money, he said. The program involves projects and he's going to be participat- said. "Right now, bless their hearts,
individual units installed on customers' ing in the data evaluation," Himlie said. the customers that are participating
water heaters who volunteer for the ser- So far, 82 of the 100 units included in are doing it out of the goodness of their
vice. The PUD has remote access to the the pilot program have been installed, hearts, they're not getting anything
units through broadband or cell phone The PUD wants to install some units out of it other than being part of the
connections, in the Shorecrest neighborhood and is program."
Journal photos by Natalie Johnson
Mason Couzlty Commission Chair Lynda Ring Erickson, along with Commissioner Tim Sheldon,
voted against the Belfair Water District's proposal to annex in Riverhill and Blue Star Properties
at a public hearing Tuesday night,
County rejects water district annexation
By ARLA SHEPHARD
The Belfair Water District can't seem to catch a break
lately.
The oft-beleaguered district will not be permitted to an-
nex in Riverhill Properties and Blue Star Properties, after
the Mason County Board of Commissioners voted against
the annexation following a public hearing Tuesday night.
Three district ratepayers testified against the annexa-
tion at the hearing, which was a continuation of a hearing
from June, and raised several questions about the proj-
ect, including whether water is available in the area and
whether the properties are actually contiguous with the
district.
"The submission for annexation has been accomplished :i!il
solely by an employee of the district, one customer and
a water commissioner acting without the interests of:
the customers," said Gordon McKay. "Many other items
[should] have been brought to light.., such as, what would
the connection charges be? What about the temporary
sewer system? What line size increases are to be made, if
any, and how will it be paid?"
At the June hearing, Riverhill developer Jack Johnson
said that, if developed, Riverhill could bring up to 129 cus-
tomers to the water district at no cost to ratepayers.
Johnson said he would pay for the design, easements
and construction of all off-site development needed to con-
nect his parcels to the district, and District Manager Dave
Tipton said the annexation would be a "tremendous ben-
efit" to all the district's customers.
On Tuesday, property owner Pat Loudin, who is in liti-
gation against Riverhill Properties, said that the proper-
ties in question are not contiguous with the water district
because of the railroad owned by the Navy that runs be-
tween the district and the parcels.
"There is one access there ... I do not believe they are
contiguous," Loudin said, citing conversations he had had
with Navy personnel.
McKay and ratepayer KenVanBuskirk also referenced
public records lawsuits that the district has been embat-
tled in, including one where the district was found in vio-
lation of state law nine times by withholding documents,
and the other that VanBuskirk is still in litigation over,
regarding documents concerning the Riverhill annexation.
Commissioner Tim Sheldon said future urban develop-
ment should not be uncoordinated.
"I would make the motion that we deny the annexa-
: tioni' he s~d. ~e district ShOuld "answer these outstand-
ing questions and move on."
Belfair Water District ratepayer Gordon McKay
testifies against the district's proposal to annex
in Riverhill and Blue Star Properties at a pub-
lic hearing Tuesday night. The Mason County
Board of Commissioners voted to deny the an-
nexation request.
Commissioner Lynda Ring Erickson agreed with Shel-
don and seconded his motion.
"I share some of the same concerns," she said. "One of
the things [to consider] is maintaining a professional level
of service and infrastructure that is dependable ... I lack
some of that confidence here."
The commissioners voted, 240-0, to deny the annexa-
tion request.
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Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, August 25, 2011 - Page A-5