The Jefferson County Public Utility District was handed a late Christmas present from Uncle Sam.

Receiving a $5.4 million loan from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the utility authority will use the funds for its ongoing smart meter and broadband projects, as well as the district’s new office building located on Otto Street south of Port Townsend.

The loan is essentially two loans bundled together, with one part ($1.35 million) being used on the PUD’s new office building and the other — worth $4.05 million — for smart grid updates, according to PUD communications director Will O’Donnell.

The multimillion-dollar loan comes with a 26-year term, and the interest rate has yet to be finalized by the Department of Agriculture, according to O’Donnell.

“We began the application for this loan in the fall of 2021,” O’Donnell said. “Borrowing from the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service program is an extensive process, that required lots of paperwork, multiple board of commissioners approvals, and many additional exchanges with the USDA team.”

“This is really two loans bundled together, one for smart grid upgrades (which is mainly our advanced metering infrastructure meter project) and the other was for the purchase of our new office building and broadband business headquarters at 191 Otto St. in Glen Cove,” O’Donnell added.

The new broadband business headquarters will add 5,840 square feet of new office space, 16 offices, two server rooms, 28 parking spots, a break room, a large conference room, and more for the utility district’s ongoing broadband projects spanning across east Jefferson County. The PUD moved into the facility — formerly used by a telecommunications and technology company — in March, and it comes with a 130-foot lattice radio tower on site.

“Because the building sale concluded in 2022, the $1.35 million loan will replenish the PUD’s cash reserves and allow us to spread the cost of the purchase of this asset over the next 26 years rather than all at once,” O’Donnell said.

On the other, $4.05 million side of the federal loan, the majority of monies will be used on new advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) meters and equipment, as well as the removal of old meters and installation costs.

Of the $4.05 million, $2.45 million will be used on AMI meters and their corresponding equipment; $950,000 for meter removal, installation, and disposal; $475,000 on collector and equipment installation; and $185,000 for supervisory control and data acquisition costs, according to O’Donnell.

The new metering infrastructure will help the utility and customers in a variety of ways, such as reduced reading and maintenance costs, reduced carbon emissions due to decreased transportation needs for meter reading, ability for customers to pre-pay, data sharing capabilities during power outages, and more.

As for the utility authority’s new broadband facility, “The new building will serve as the primary data center for the PUD’s broadband expansion,” O’Donnell said.

“In the next four years, the PUD will extend fiber optic internet service to over 4,000 homes and businesses lacking access to broadband internet over a wireline,” he explained.

For more information on the PUD’s meter program, visit jeffpud.org/meterprogram.