Electric vehicles can once again ‘plug in’ at Bridgeport

BRIDGEPORT – The city has reconnected its electric vehicle charging station at Bouska Park following a decision by the Douglas PUD to suspend a monthly rate that would have cost the city more than $80 a month to provide the free service.

Mayor Sergio Orozco made the announcement at the April 16 city council meeting, following the PUD Commissioners' adjustment of the EV rate at their April 4 meeting.

The city made the decision to disconnect its EV station last December after the PUD adopted a steep increase in the monthly base rate effective in 2025.

“We received a letter from the PUD on Nov. 22 that our (EV charger) rates are going up almost quadruple from where they are now,” said Orozco at the time. Those costs were:

• Base rate of $97.50 per month (up from 2024 base of $14.53 per month).
• Kilowatt (kW) usage fee increases from .002 to .4.

Orozco and city clerk/treasurer Judy Brown met with PUD commissioners last December to discuss a possible reduction for a free service to EV owners but left Bridgeport rate payers to pick up the tab. 

“The city is paying for everything on that right now,” said Orozco. “People hook up to it, we pay for it, and we have no way of charging people who hook up to it.”

Per its installation agreement in 2017 the city agreed not to charge users for the first five years of access. While that period has expired, “we can now charge for it, but the problem is we have no way to hard wire it to the city,” Orozco said.

The installation was a cooperative effort between the city, the North Central Washington Economic Development District (NCWEDD), and its affiliate, Plug-in North Central Washington. A USDA grant covered the cost. It was one in a chain of stations along State Routes 17 and 174 stretching from Pateros to Davenport.

The rate reduction also affects the EV station at Highway 2 Brew in Waterville. Owner Margaret Viebrock has had a cost-share EV charger at her business for about a decade. While Viebrock said her new base in 2025 was “566 percent higher than what I was paying,” she did not suspend service while awaiting the April reduction.

There are five EV charging stations in Douglas County. The one in East Wenatchee and the other at Wells Dam are PUD owned; a third is in East Wenatchee. Bridgeport and Waterville are the only two offering the service for no cost as a community service.

The EV charging station in Pateros was installed on Okanogan PUD property and is not owned by the city, so it incurs no costs for its operation.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media