Scranton residents rally against Pa. Water rate increase - Yahoo! Voices

Scranton, Dunmore residents rally against Pa. Water rate increase | Eyewitness News

SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— A proposed water rate increase is on its way to residents in northeast Pennsylvania and one group is trying to put a stop to it, and now there’s a new office in Lackawanna County where residents can voice their concerns.

“I came to file a complaint against Pennsylvania American Water,” one resident said.

“It’s an official HQ where people can file a complaint,” said the Oppose PA Water Hike organizer.

“People’s water bills are literally doubling,” said State Senator Marty, of the 22nd District.

A proposed water rate increase is on its way to residents in northeast Pennsylvania and one group is trying to put a stop to it.

“For someone who is on a fixed income, we just can’t handle it anymore,” said Les Spindler, from Scranton.

Elected officials and a group called “Oppose PA Water Hike” have opened an office in downtown Scranton for anyone who is against a proposed water rate increase.

“Our working hours are from nine to one and then we come back to four to about seven or eight o’clock at night,” said Joe Gilhooley, organizer of Oppose PA Water Hike.

The people here say it takes about 15 minutes to file a complaint and the office is right here on the corner of North Washington and Mulberry Street in downtown Scranton.

“Who is affected most are really the people in Scranton and Dunmore they have the largest increases by far they just had a 70% increase. We’re getting an additional 28% increase on top of the 70% increase last year peoples bills are basically doubling from what they were last year,” Gilhooley said.

Marty Flynn is one of the representatives who is sponsoring the walk-in office and is encouraging people in his disrict to come out and fill out a complaint form.

“This was supposed to be spread over all of their customer base not the peoples of Scranton and Dunmore, that’s not fair, we’re not gonna take it,” said State Senator Flynn(D-22).

The deadline is January 7 for the official complaints to be filed. WBRE received a comment from the Pennsylvania American Water Company on Wednesday. They stated they gather extensive data to make an informed decision on their costs and all customers are welcome to share their input.

The deadline for complaints to be filed is January 7.