Douglas PUD to leave NoaNet

NoaNet is a non-profit wholesale telecommunications company formed by several Washington PUDs in 2000 to bring high-speed telecommunication services into under-served communities for economic development.

Commissioners agreed May 21 to give NoaNet the required 60 days notice to withdraw. Time will be up on July 20.

“NoaNet seems to be on sound financial footing,” PUD General Manager Bill Dobbins said Tuesday. “We can save some administrative time and travel costs by not needing to closely monitor the organization.”

Currently 12 PUDs, including Douglas, Chelan and Grant are NoaNet members, as well as Energy Northwest, a nonprofit that operates the Hanford Nuclear Power Plant in Richland and a wind farm.

Dobbins said members don’t pay dues, but have had to cover their proportional share of NoaNet’s start-up debt.

Since NoaNet’s inception, Douglas County PUD has paid nearly $870,000 to help it cover its debt, including just over $20,000 last year.

NoaNet CEO Greg Marney said Tuesday that the nonprofit’s revenues through sales of Internet access are now enough to cover all expenses, including interest on existing debt.

He said that Douglas County PUD’s withdrawal will not have an impact on the business.

The NoaNet board meets once a month in Seattle. Officials from the member PUDs now serve as advisers. Remaining members would be responsible for debt if NoaNet’s revenues fail to cover its expenses.

Over the years, NoaNet’s importance to local telecom has diminished, since many companies now sell broadband Internet access to local service providers that sell Internet, telephone and cable TV services over the PUDs’ fiber networks. PUDs are prevented by law from selling these services directly to the public.

It continues to operate a 24-7 call center, funded by the PUDs, to help local service providers diagnose and troubleshoot problems with the utilities’ fiber networks, Marney said. Douglas County PUD will continue to use that service, he said.

Dobbins said travel and monthly meetings aren’t a huge cost, but take up time that PUD staffers can spend doing other work.

“We like to save even little, tiny bits of money,” he said.