NEWS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Hermiston council discusses electric rate increase
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Hermiston Energy Ser-
vices is likely headed for a
rate increase in 2021 after
the Hermiston City Council
discussed options for one
during a Monday, Oct. 12,
workshop.
Councilors asked HES
General Manager Nate
Rivera to bring back
detailed proposals for a
few different rate increase
options, but most said they
were leaning toward a two-
step increase next spring
and fall rather than raising
rates the entire amount all
at once at the beginning of
the year.
Rivera said that he
understood that more
members of the community
are struggling to pay their
utility bills since the pan-
demic. Right now 20% of
HES customers are behind
on payments, compared
HELP IS AVAILABLE
Hermiston residents facing fi nancial diffi culties who are
struggling to pay their electric bill can fi nd options at uma-
tillaelectric.com/my-account/energy-bill-assistance.
Hermiston Herald, File
An analog electrical meter measures power use on a local
business for Hermiston Energy Services in May 2016.
to a three-year average of
15% before the pandemic
started.
But Rivera also stated
that if HES stays its cur-
rent course, it will have a
revenue defi cit of just over
$1 million next year.
“This is a horrible time
in our community to have
this discussion, but at the
same time you guys need to
understand where we’re at
fi nancially,” he said.
He said other than the
5% of its budget that is
taken up with capital proj-
ects, the utility’s costs are
mostly fi xed “in and out”
costs such as wholesale
power purchases from the
Bonneville Power Admin-
istration and its labor con-
tract with Umatilla Electric
Cooperative.
City Manager Byron
Smith said the council
should have been discuss-
ing a rate increase in March
or April, but in light of the
pandemic HES had been
dipping into its reserves
to put it off for as long as
possible.
Rivera said in order to
fi ll the anticipated $1 mil-
lion budget gap, HES
would need to raise rates
by 12.9% overall. That
could be done through fl at,
across-the-board increases
or a restructure of rates
for various classes of
customers.
He said a general 12.9%
increase would raise the
average residential cus-
tomer using 1,400 kilowatt
hours from a bill of $111 to
$121 a month. According
to a rate comparison Rivera
put together, that would
move HES above Umatilla
Electric Cooperative ($118
a month) but below Pacifi c
Power ($159) and the state
average ($176).
The 12.9% estimate,
he said, did not leave any
room for extra increases to
HES’s expenses that may
crop up, such as a BPA rate
increase or added regula-
tions from the state.
Mayor David Drotz-
mann said while he under-
stood the need to not bur-
den taxpayers unduly, he
has also appreciated the
increased reliability HES
has provided in recent years
through capital improve-
ment projects. He said as
HES tries to tighten its belt,
he hopes the city-owned
utility doesn’t sacrifi ce reli-
ability in the process.
Councilor Roy Barron
brought up some of the pro-
grams that HES, UEC and
some local agencies offer
to help people with their
utility bills, and he said he
hoped those programs were
being promoted, and that
any rate increase is pub-
licized well in advance.
The programs got a major
boost recently with dona-
tions from Amazon Web
Services and CARES Act
money from the city desig-
nated for helping residents
in need.
Umatilla County returns to COVID-19 watchlist
By ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITER
Just weeks after its
removal, Umatilla County
became the fi rst county to
be returned to the state’s
COVID-19 watchlist on Fri-
day, Oct. 9, Gov. Kate Brown
announced in a press release.
The county was removed
from the watch list Sept. 18
but was added back the day
after the state reported 481
COVID-19 cases on Thurs-
day, Oct. 8, the most reported
on a single day since the start
of the pandemic.
“Combined with yes-
terday’s record-high state-
wide case count, this is a
sign that we must tread cau-
tiously or we risk losing the
gains we’ve made in slowing
the spread of COVID-19,”
Brown stated in the release.
“My priority is getting kids
in every county safely back
in school — but that will
become more and more diffi -
cult if COVID-19 case num-
bers spike.”
The return to the watchlist
has no impact on businesses’
ability to remain open or the
guidelines for social gather-
ings. It is used to inform state
policymakers and the Ore-
gon Health Authority about
the spread of COVID-19 in
individual counties and assist
in prioritizing resources for
those counties.
The state determines
whether a county will be on
the watchlist by the number
and rate of virus cases that
can’t be traced to a known
source of transmission, also
known as the sporadic case
rate. A county is added to the
watch list if it reports more
than fi ve sporadic cases and
a sporadic case rate that
exceeds 50 sporadic cases
per 100,000 people during a
S
E
N
A
L
DESERT
T
N
A
R
U
A
REST OUNGE
& L
two-week span.
According to the Oregon
Health Authority, Umatilla
County recorded 42 sporadic
cases (51.7 per 100,000)
from Sept. 20 to Oct. 3. The
county had recorded 27 and
31 cases in the two previous
two-week windows, which
amounted to 33.3 and 38.2
cases per 100,000 people,
respectively.
“Last week, we saw
a jump there,” Umatilla
County Public Health Direc-
tor Joe Fiumara said. “Most
of which are folks we’re just
not able to connect with.”
Fiumara said that can
happen from people refus-
ing to talk to contact tracers,
not returning phone calls or
not having a working phone
number to begin with.
“The fact is that means
we don’t know where they
got it,” he said.
Umatilla County has also
seen a jump the last two
weeks in case totals alto-
gether. According to the Ore-
gon Health Authority, Uma-
tilla County added 115 new
cases of the virus from Sept.
26 to Oct. 2. Fiumara said
about 15 of those cases were
tied to a new workplace out-
break that wasn’t identifi ed
in the state’s weekly report.
“We’ve defi nitely seen a
little bit of an uptick,” Fiu-
mara said on Oct. 9. “But we
feel it might be dropping a
bit again this week.”
The Oregon Health
Authority reported 88 new
cases of the virus in Umatilla
County from Saturday, Oct.
3 to Oct. 9.
Fiumara said the coun-
ty’s return to the watchlist
won’t change any operations
at the health department, but
added it may be a reminder
of the ongoing risk the virus
poses.
Call today to make an appointment
with one of our certified
Senior Health Insurance Benefit
Assistance (SHIBA) representatives!
Appointments are available
in-person, virtual or via phone.
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