At the July 7 regular meeting of the Lewis County PUD Board of Commissioners, the Commission unanimously adopted a ten-year strategic plan for the PUD. The 16-page plan is a culmination of a thorough planning process that began in February 2020.
“In addition to reaffirming the important values of leadership, teamwork, respect, communication, and accountability, this plan also establishes a roadmap of thoughtful investments needed to maintain safe, reliable, and sustainably sourced utilities for generations of customers,” said Ben Kostick, District 1 Commissioner of Lewis County PUD.
Several important projects and initiatives are identified in the plan that will improve the quality of life for PUD customers. Examples include substation rehabilitation, deployment of broadband Internet, LED streetlights, advanced metering, and recreational enhancements. The plan includes descriptions of all identified projects and estimated project costs.
“This plan embodies a commitment to rehabilitating aging parts of our core electric infrastructure which our customers rely on 24 hours a day, every day of the year,” said Jeff Shupe, Engineering Manager for Lewis County PUD. Many of the PUD’s substations are approaching 50 years of age; replacement parts are increasingly difficult to procure and a major substation failure could cause an extended outage. A focus of the strategic plan is to mitigate the hazards of aging infrastructure, including worker safety and reliable electric service to customers.