After months of outrage, zero turnout at Global Water rate-hike hearing

In just 16 minutes, Global Water Resources’ first public hearing on a proposed water rate hike was over.

The hearing, which began just after 5 p.m. yesterday in Phoenix, ended without a single public comment in support or opposition to the utility’s 19% rate increase request. Only a handful of Global Water representatives attended. One person logged in as “Listen only” but did not speak or respond.

The silence marked a sharp departure from months of written outrage earlier this year, when Maricopa residents filed dozens of public comments opposing the rate increase.

Earlier outcry

The Arizona Corporation Commission’s docket shows residents from across Maricopa, particularly the Province and Senita neighborhoods, flooded the Utilities Division inbox with written objections from May to September.

Many argued they already pay too much. Province resident Lorna Nicholson wrote that her bill averages more than $100 a month despite living alone.

“I cannot afford an increase as such is proposed,” she told the commission. “I will have to consider selling since my water bill is $106 a month now when I am not even there. Please consider fixed income residents in your decision.”

Neighbor Terri Holcombe called the proposal unfair.

“We do not have any choice of our water company in Maricopa, so I will be relying on you to make them perform to good standards and not overcharge us,” she wrote. “Are we expected to pay for GWR to expand? In my house, we have to make appropriate decisions and budget to plan for future expense. Why is it that a business doesn’t have to do the same?”

Another Province resident, Lloyd Frank, echoed those concerns: “We pay $107 a month for our water bill — don’t you think this is enough for seniors to pay? Please don’t let this happen.”

Clayton Adams, of the Maricopa Meadows, pleaded simply: “Please do not let the proposed increase the GWR has requested. The rate we already pay is a burden on the citizens of Maricopa.”

And Terry Clark, the Province agitator, claimed Global Water’s notice “fabricated” cost justifications and cited “abuse” of HOA properties for water storage.

“They forgot to insert this fact: the builder, not GWR, are the installers; the costs are included into the apartment or home expense,” he wrote. “Now GWR wants to recoup their loss for poor materials and decisions onto their customers.”

Even residents outside Maricopa, such as Lee Lindenberg of Red Rock, filed one-line objections: “I am against Global Water’s proposed 19.8% increase, period.”

Regulators also skeptical

In addition to public opposition, state consumer advocates have challenged a key part of Global Water’s proposal.

Cynthia Zwick, director of the state Residential Utility Consumer Office, or RUCO, filed testimony last week opposing the company’s plan to adopt a “Cost of Service Adjustment” formula that could automatically trigger yearly rate increases.

RUCO argued the mechanism would remove incentives for efficiency, erode oversight and expose customers to continual bill hikes without full public review.

“The implementation of a potential formula rate is a sea change,” Zwick wrote. “There is no indication from ratepayers in the record stating that ratepayers want gradualism, and any benefit will likely be offset by customers having to ultimately pay more over time.”

Zwick warned that approving Global Water’s proposed formula could open the door to “multiple annual rate increases” for the same households, across different utilities statewide.

She urged commissioners to reject the change outright.

Hearing moves forward quietly

Despite those months of opposition, when the time came to speak directly to regulators Wednesday, no one showed up.

The company’s proposal, first filed in February, seeks to generate an additional $4.2 million per year from customers of its Santa Cruz Water and Palo Verde Utilities systems. Global Water says the increase is necessary to keep pace with city growth and inflation, since rates were last calculated using 2019 cost data.

“Our current rates are based on costs from 2019,” Vice President and Regional Manager Jon Corwin told InMaricopa in February. “Inflation since then has been significant for everything, and inflation of utility costs specifically is up about 28% in that five-year period.”

According to the company, the average Maricopa household using 5,500 gallons per month would see their monthly bill rise by just over $5 from $35.73 to $40.76.

The corporation commission will hold another public hearing at 10 a.m. Dec. 15 at the ACC Hearing Division Building, 1200 W. Washington St. in Phoenix. Residents may also continue submitting written comments online through the commission’s docket portal before that date.

Whether the next hearing draws more voices than this week’s remains to be seen. Public comments can still be submitted directly to the ACC online.

Elias Weiss contributed reporting.