Across the nation, power distribution, transmission and generation infrastructure is either aging and rapidly becoming unable to meet modern energy demands, or is critically failing as it reaches the end of its useful life. This is true nationwide and especially true in Eastern Washington.

Here in the Northwest, public power utilities have inherited an inspiring history of visionary leaders who built systems through the wilderness to light homes, farms, businesses and communities. Their efforts enabled the modern era.

However, many utilities also inherited a legacy of well-intentioned but short-sighted decisions that failed to invest in the future. As a result, critical infrastructure has fallen into disrepair. A culture of “running things to failure” may seem cost-effective in the moment, but it does not produce reliable power.

In an era of long equipment lead times, increasing wildfire risk and shrinking resources, such an approach can even result in prolonged outages lasting hours, days or weeks for the homes and businesses that rely on electricity for jobs, internet, phone service, heating and cooling, irrigation and even transportation.

Changing expectations

Exacerbating these challenges is the reality that expectations of the electric grid are vastly different than they were 100, 50 or even 15 years ago. 

In homes, electricity may be the primary or only source of heating, cooling and vehicle charging. It powers children’s education and adults’ ability to work. In businesses, it supports critical technologies and drives local economic engines. 

Meanwhile, renewable energy requirements, carbon regulations, wildfire mitigation rules and other mandates add pressure from every direction, increasing the complexity and cost of providing power.

Put simply, while there may once have been a certain romance to lighting candles during an outage, today’s consumers expect the power to stay on – and they expect that power to be safe, affordable and largely carbon-free.

These rising expectations, combined with global supply-chain pressures, have driven utility costs dramatically higher. Industry reports show that in the past five years, the cost of distribution equipment for West Coast utilities has increased by 70%. Power transformers alone have risen an average of 126%, with large substation transformers climbing even faster. We are now in a time where the public’s need for affordable, reliable electricity is in direct tension with regulatory requirements, global economic forces and the challenge of maintaining increasingly aging infrastructure.

Addressing challenges

Now for the good news.

Public power utilities across our region understand these challenges and are actively planning to meet them. At Benton REA, we rely on three key tools to address the headwinds ahead: our people, our technology and our culture of responsible financial and asset management.

It is often said that people should “work smarter, not harder.” At Benton REA we take exception to this, we work smarter and harder. 

By investing in employee tools and training, we’re using software to make things run faster and produce more value for our member owners, as an electric cooperative – that means our customers, who are also our shareholders and the owners of our system. 

For example, our Member Experience Department has automated more than half of its formerly manual tasks. This has allowed the department to reduce staffing by three positions through attrition, while shifting employee time toward higher-value work. At the same time, service quality has improved: the department’s missed-call rate has dropped to just 2%, and its first-contact resolution and member satisfaction have risen to 90%.

We also are investing in modernized system equipment to ensure fewer, shorter and less frequent outages while reducing wildfire risk. 

Every decision is driven by data, allowing us to rebuild and back up the lines that need it most and install communication equipment that provides real-time system updates. 

We prioritize system designs that offer multiple sources of power, ensuring that a single equipment failure affects as few members as possible and that alternative routes can be used to keep power flowing during an outage.

Fiscal responsibility

Finally, we recognize that these critical investments come at a cost. To protect our members, we work to maximize the value of every dollar spent. This means aligning financing terms with the lifespan of major projects, ensuring a strong business case for each investment, using low-interest federal loans instead of higher-cost commercial loans and pursuing grants whenever possible. 

In the last year, with the help of our local elected officials, we were awarded $4 million in combined grant funding for infrastructure investment. Through these tools, and through robust long-term planning efforts, we expect to keep our rates among the most competitive in the region and lowest in the country.

In the end, although our industry faces significant challenges, the future is bright. As stewards of our members’ electric system, we take our responsibility to plan, invest and innovate seriously. 

With the strength of our staff, modern technology and sound financial management, Benton REA will continue to provide safe, affordable and reliable power for many years to come.

Ryan J. Redmond is the CEO of Benton REA.