4/14/06

PacifiCorp and two conservation districts in the Klamath Basin last week made good on their promise to help a bit with farmers facing dramatic increases in electric pump power rates.

The program, underwritten by PacifiCorp and Energy Trust of Oregon, is tailored to the Klamath service area in Oregon and to Pacific Power’s Northern California service area.

Irrigators within the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project and hundreds beyond are part of a 50-year discounted electrical pumping rate contract that expires in mid-April.

A phase-in of rates is expected if a last-minute effort doesn’t delay contract expiration until PacifiCorp’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license is renewed.

Negotiators for the Klamath Water Users Association are still working on easing the impact, which could jump pump costs up to 2,500 percent for some classes of users.

The conservation deal, announced March 20, is a free nozzle exchange, a free pump test and incentives for making repairs during or at the close of the 2006 irrigation season.

Klamath Soil and Water Conservation District will run the program on the Oregon side of the border; Lava Beds-Butte Valley Resource Conservation Service, on the California side.

The water users executive director, Greg Addington, hailed the arrangement “regardless of what rate irrigators are paying for their power.”

Contacts for information in Oregon are T.J. Woodley at (530) 667-3473 ext. 114; in California, Theresa Wright at (530) 667-4247 ext. 103.

 

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