Bellevue residents opposed to Puget Sound Energy’s Energize Eastside project asked city councilmembers Monday to put the brakes on an environmental impact statement process until a delayed independent study of the city’s future electrical needs is completed.

City staff told the council in early March an independent analysis of future energy demands on the Eastside was expected to be completed by Utility Systems Efficiencies before the EIS process started — a 45-day scoping period beginning April 30 — but now expects the contractor’s report by late April or early May.

City spokesman David Grant told the Reporter Wednesday USE received data from PSE in February, but needed more time to analyze it. USE is now tentatively slated to report its findings to the council on May 4.

“We don’t want to rush the process, because it could affect the city’s ability to meet the desire of both the city council and stakeholder groups to have a good, thorough analysis of the Energize Eastside project,” he said.

Members of the Coalitions of Eastside Neighborhoods for Sensible Energy told the council Monday the USE report is too important to the EIS process, which should be postponed until USE’s findings are known.

“Taxpayers have invested $100,000 to get this independent report, and its conclusions are critical before hundreds of millions of our dollars are spent on a project that we suspect benefits PSE more than it benefits us,” said Don Marsh with CENSE to the council on Monday.

Delaying the scoping period for the EIS process could affect the project timeline down the road, said Will Einstein, director of business services and economic development at PSE, adding large businesses in the energy company’s service area are depending on Energize Eastside as they continue to grow.

“They want to see the process continue to move ahead,” Einstein said.

David Hoffman for the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties also encouraged the city council to support starting the scoping process on April 30, saying his organization is concerned about being able to hook up power to new homes in the future.

Grant said the city council will still be able to submit comments based on the USE report during the scoping period, which ends June 15.

“The scheduling should not be an issue,” he said.