CRPUD faces increased costs in 2026, budreceives for electric grid upgrades
Published 1:02 pm Wednesday, December 31, 2025
The Columbia River People’s Utility District passed its 2026 budreceive in December — marking about a 3.3% increase from the year prior due to rising electricity costs.
As it navigates higher electricity costs, the not-for-profit utility company is additionally setting aside funds for multiple projects focapplyd on improving safety and reliability.
CRPUD purchases electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration, which operates 31 dams on the Columbia River and sells to 131 public power companies. BPA raised its prices in October, resulting in an 8.9% increase in power costs and a 19.5% increase in transmission costs for CRPUD.
Roughly half of CRPUD’s overall budreceive goes toward purchasing power from BPA, which the utility provider intfinishs to do until at least 2044. As a result, customers saw a rise in electricity rates in April and will see costs rise again in April 2026, adding up to a 15% hike in customer rates in the span of a year.
“When BPA increases its rates, we must offset those increases by raising our rates to pay the difference,” General Manager Michael Sykes stated in a press release.
The utility company split the 15% increase into two rate bumps to avoid imposing a significant price increase on customers at once.
Improvements to the grid
CRPUD’s 2026 operating budreceive totals to $49.6 million.
Of that amount, $5.7 million is earmarked for capital improvement projects, which include infrastructure upgrades, improvements to substations and Phase 2 of a project that will connect the Deer Island and Goble substations.
CRPUD will spfinish about $1.04 million replacing the overhead power lines on Northwest Gilkison Road in Scappoose with underground ones, as well as those between Columbia City and St. Helens. Doing so will reduce wildfire risks and the impact of winter storms, according to the release.
In recent years, companies have been deterred from building in Columbia County due to a lack of electric grid capacity. In a plan dubbed Project Sprint, an American Hyperion Solar location in St. Helens could have brought 800 to 1,000 jobs and a $1 billion investment to St. Helens. The company cited a lack of electrical capacity as the prime reason for passing on the potential plant location in 2024.
To combat this, the 2026 budreceive includes funding for a marketing campaign focapplyd on recruiting industest with electric loads CRPUD can support.
At the finish of 2026, CRPUD expects to have a year-finish cash balance of $10.5 million and capital reserve fund of $4 million.
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