Facts About Vera

We serve the Spokane Valley. Our job as a publicly-owned, not-for-profit utility is to deliver safe, reliable electricity and water at the lowest price possible while responsibly managing our resources, our employees, and our environment.

As a distribution utility, we don’t make the products we deliver to you. The water comes from the Spokane-Rathdrum Aquifer and others generate the electricity.

Our electric supply

Most of Vera’s power comes from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which generates power from dams on the Columbia, Snake and other Northwest rivers. When we need more power than is available from BPA, we receive power from the Northwest Intergovernmental Energy Supply (NIES), an organization comprised of a group of publicly-owned utilities that have banded together to supply power beyond what is available from BPA. More than 60 percent of what you pay us goes straight to BPA. A rate increase from BPA has a dramatic effect on the rates our customers are charged.

Our water supply

The water we provide is pumped from the Spokane-Rathdrum Aquifer and then treated through a chlorination system. We pump water from 10 wells located throughout the district. All the wells are tied together through a pipe system — you may be receiving water from our oldest well, dug by hand in 1908, or our newest well, located at 24th and Adams, which started in 2013.

How we are governed

Vera Water and Power is governed by a five-member board of directors. The directors are elected to serve staggered, three-year terms, by position. The director(s) election is held on the second Tuesday in December of each year. To file for election, a declaration of candidacy and petition for nomination in conformity with R.C.W. 87.03.075 must be filed by 5 p.m. on the first Monday in November. The declaration must indicate which position the filing is for. If only one candidate files for office, no election is held, and the single candidate is declared elected.

The Board of Directors is the policy-making body. They are responsible for the adoption of rules and policies which will implement Chapter 87 of the R.C.W. The Board of Directors hires a general manager, who is responsible for the administration and day-to-day operation of the district. All employees of the district are responsible to and report to, the general manager.

The board meets at an open meeting on the second Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the district office. At this meeting, the general manager reports to the board on the district operations over the previous month. The board of directors will entertain presentations and questions by customers concerning the District’s operation at the time designated on the agenda. To expedite responding to questions, it is suggested that any customer who wants to make an appearance at a board meeting call the office several days prior to the meeting and request a place on the agenda.

Our mission

To provide our customers the highest quality service at the lowest possible cost, while responsibly managing our resources, our employees, and our environment.