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Snohomish County Public Utility District is a public utility providing power to 325,000 customers in Snohomish County and on Camano Island, Washington. It provides water service to over 20,000 customers in the northeast section of the Snohomish County. The utility is the second largest public utility in the Pacific Northwest and the 12th largest in the United States. It is the largest of 28 PUDs in the state of Washington. The PUD is the largest utility customer of the Bonneville Power Administration, a major wholesale marketer of energy in the Western United States. The utility is one of the leaders in tidal〔(“Feds receive Puget Sound tidal power application,” ) Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 20, 2010〕〔(“Puget Sound Area Leads the Charge to Tidal Energy,” ) Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Aug. 16, 2007〕 and geothermal〔(“Snohomish County PUD to probe for sources of geothermal energy,” ) Everett Daily Herald, Aug. 16, 2010〕〔(“Interest in NW geothermal potential heats up,” ) Puget Sound Business Journal, Oct. 29, 2010〕 energy research in the Pacific Northwest, both of which are clean, reliable and plentiful in the region. The utility has received $12 million in federal funding towards its pilot tidal project.〔(“Feds award PUD $10 million for tidal power,” ) Snohomish County Business Journal, Sep. 10, 2010〕 Other energy comes from renewable hydroelectric sources, co-generation projects fueled by biogas and biomass and wind energy projects. The utility started offering incentives, loans and other resources for small-scale solar installations in spring 2009.〔(“Solar Power Projects Heating Up In Northwest,” ) Q13 Fox News, May 26, 2010〕 Snohomish County PUD has developed and led regional conservation programs for more than 25 years. The cumulative savings equal more than 100 average-megawatts, enough to serve about 75,000 homes. The utility has weatherized more than 60,000 homes, recycled more than 33,000 older, energy-wasting refrigerators and freezers, and sold more than 3.8 million compact fluorescent lights at discounted prices through a retail network. In recent years, the utility has beaten its record for conservation.〔(“Snohomish County PUD sets energy record,” ) King 5 News, Mar. 19, 2010〕 ==History== The Snohomish County Public Utility District is a municipal corporation of the State of Washington, formed by a majority vote of the people on November 3, 1936. It started as a water utility on January 17, 1946. The PUD began operating as an electric utility on September 1, 1949. In 2005, the PUD uncovered audio tapes revealing that Enron energy traders were intentionally manipulating the market during the Western U.S. energy crisis by encouraging suppliers to shut down plants to perform unnecessary maintenance.〔"Tapes Show Enron Caused Rolling Blackouts in California," New York Times, Feb. 4, 2005〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Snohomish County Public Utility District」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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