About 50 percent of energy generated in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States comes from hydroelectric power. According to Rick Dunn, general manager of Benton PUD, that puts the region in an unbelievably unique position. In this episode, host Dave Whitehead talks with Rick about the impact hydro has on reliability and rates, the politicization of the resource, and why he became an author.

Rick Dunn.jpg

General Manager

Rick is the General Manager of Benton PUD; a position he has held since March 1, 2020. He's a graduate of Washington State University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and is a registered Professional Engineer with more than 37 years of electrical power and utility systems engineering, operations, and management experience in both the public and private sectors. 

Rick is a leader well-versed on the challenges of balancing complex energy and environmental issues.  In the run up to the passage of Washington State’s Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA), he was directly involved in the development of comprehensive studies of least-cost approaches to Pacific Northwest electricity sector decarbonization and the impacts on power grid reliability.

Rick understands grid physics and continues to be actively involved in managing Benton PUD’s power supply portfolio and the growing challenges of balancing affordability and reliability while complying with aggressive state and federal clean energy policies.

As a leader in the Tri-Cities community and long-time resident, Rick is a big supporter of nuclear power and is very knowledgeable of the history and current-sate of hydropower in the Pacific Northwest as well as the economic and environmental benefits and impacts of the dams. He serves on the boards of the Public Power Council, Northwest RiverPartners, Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee, and Tri-City Development Council. 

In 2021, he was selected as one of two utility stakeholder representatives from the four northwest states to serve on the Columbia Basin Collaborative’s Integration/Recommendation Group (I/RG). The I/RG will seek consensus agreement on proposed actions and develop recommendations to federal, state, tribal and other decision-makers on issues affecting salmon and steelhead recovery in the Columbia River Basin.

Rick has been a clean energy and power grid reliability guest speaker for civic, economic development and industry trade groups as well as political interest groups on both sides of the aisle. As part of his passion for education and outreach and deep concern that experienced and common-sense utility perspectives are not being heard, Rick publishes a no-cost and subscription-optional newsletter which can be found at 

Hydroelectricity: The Carbon-Free Powerhouse of the Pacific Northwest Energy Mix