PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson Public Utility officials are eyeing options on how to expand broadband internet to more customers in Jefferson County.

The Jefferson Public Utility District (PUD), along with representatives from Kitsap PUD and Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet), led a discussion with about 50 people at the Port Townsend Fire Station on Tuesday afternoon about what the Jefferson PUD has done so far and what the Kitsap PUD has found to be successful.

Neighboring projects

No specific plan has been set in place. But officials are looking at models of broadband projects that Kitsap and Mason counties have used to bring the service to rural areas of Jefferson County.

“We have to be very realistic about what resources we have available,” said PUD General Manager Kevin Streett. “We don’t want to have to build it again… We want to build once for the future.”

About 70 percent of Jefferson County residents now lack broadband internet speeds (determined to be more than 25 megabytes per second), he said.

About 40 miles of fiber optic cable already has been laid in the northern part of the county, Streett added.

One option under consideration is to form local utility districts, each referred to as a LUD, in which groups of neighbors assist with the cost of expanding broadband into their neighborhood, he said. Kitsap and Mason counties both use this method.

“It’s not sustainable if we don’t have money coming in,” Streett said.

PUD’s can’t charge retail for internet — only wholesale for materials mainly, said Angela Bennik, telecom business manager for Kitsap PUD.

Kitsap fiber customers pay a base rate of $2,200 plus tax to be able to connect to fiber. But the average rate per household due to material and distance was close to $7,000, Bennik said. The LUDs allow the customers to break up the cost over 20 years.

Once connected, internet use was provided by separate internet service providers (ISPs) such as Wave or CenturyLink, said Bennik.

For a LUD to be formed, a community petition of homeowners needs 50 percent plus one of the neighborhood for the PUD to be required to act to form one and start working on the process of building fiber, Bennet said.

“It’s key to have public involvement,” Bennet said.

Although commissioners did not act, the consensus was that broadband internet cost will need to be shared among the PUD, City of Port Townsend, Jefferson County and residents for it to become a reality in the more rural areas.

“It’s not going to be a ‘build it and they will come,’” said commissioner chair Dan Toepper. “They need to come and we will build it.”

Next steps that the PUD staff and commissioners are eyeing is the possibility of hiring a consultant and working on a business plan for how they will roll out fiber for customers.

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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.