Vera Irrigation District #15 electricity rates

It is a smaller system, serving 12,171 residential customers, which means its fixed costs are spread across a narrow base. At 9.18¢ per kilowatt-hour it is one of the cheaper places to buy electricity in Washington, 38.6% under the statewide average of 14.95¢.

Its customers use more electricity than the national norm, 1,095 kilowatt-hours a month against 871, which amplifies whatever the rate does.

A public body created by the state or county, governed by an elected or appointed board rather than by shareholders. That matters because a bill is not only the cost of generating electricity: it also carries the cost of the network, and who owns that network changes how it is paid for.

82 residential customers had net-metered solar in 2024, totalling 0.62 megawatts. That works out to 6.7 installations per thousand customers, against a median of 8 across the utilities reporting it.

Adoption is below the national median. A low retail rate reduces what solar displaces, and export compensation set at avoided cost rather than the retail rate reduces it further. What exports are actually worth.