Clark Public Utilities

Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County, doing business as Clark Public Utilities and commonly referred to as Clark PUD, is a public utility agency in Clark County, Washington. Clark PUD provides electric service to all of Clark County except for the Georgia-Pacific Camas Paper Mill in the City of Camas, and its water service area covers the majority of the county, excepting areas served by private wells, and the Cities of Battle Ground, Camas, Ridgefield, Washougal, and Vancouver, which have their own municipal water systems.OrganizationAfter previous attempts in 1934 and again in 1936 failed, Clark PUD was formed by referendum in 1938, when the citizens of Clark County approved a proposal to create a municipal nonprofit organization to provide electric service to the County under the laws of the State of Washington. At the time, Clark County's electric service was being provided by two private utility companies, Portland General Electric (PGE) served the Vancouver area, and the Northwest Electric Company (NEC) served the remainder of rural Clark County. Both companies had waged vigorous compaigns to defeat the measure, and did not readily withdraw from the County even after the measure was approved.