Washington State Utility Sued By Few Major Cryptocurrency Firms
Nine major cryptocurrency firms in the U.S. State of Washington has joined forces to sue the Grant County public utility district, and its commissioners for “acting inappropriately in creating and approving a new rate that raises electricity costs” for cryptocurrency miners.
The Grant County Public Utility District (Grant PUD)
The Grant County public utility district (Grant PUD) in Washington made it known in a recent report that it is currently fighting a lawsuit brought against it by nine cryptocurrency firms in the state. The cryptocurrency firms alleged that the utility increased the cost of electricity used in mining cryptocurrency without going through proper channels.
Grant PUD has however released statements indicating that it is ready to fight the case.
The utility stated that:
“Grant PUD would cover the cost of legal defense for commissioners TomFlint, Dale Walker and Larry Schaapman, as well as former commissioners Terry Brewer and BobBernd, and 10 PUD employees,”
“All are co-defendants in a suit filed against Grant PUD in U.S. District Court of Eastern Washington by nine cryptocurrency-related firms who allege Grant PUD, its commissioners and some employees acted inappropriately in creating and approving a new rate that raises electricity costs for them and other new evolving industry’ customers.” The Utility continued.
Grant PUD which has over 50,510 customers throughout the county, made it known that it plans to file a “response to the notice of complaint in federal court before the end of the month.”
New Pricing From April 1
The utility also explained that:
“Starting from April 1, cryptocurrency miners will have to pay above-cost electric rate designed to protect Grant PUD from risk and preserve below-cost rates for core customers. ”
Grant PUD also revealed that since 2017 it has received inquiries from several cryptocurrency mining companies asking if it could provide electric power of up to 2000 megawatts for mining purposes.
