WSAZ Investigates | WV American Water Makes Case for Rate Hike - WSAZ
WSAZ Investigates | WV American Water Makes Case for Rate Hike
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - West Virginia American Water made its case Tuesday to increase your family’s water bill.
The state’s Public Service Commission heard the first of potentially three days of testimony Tuesday, and the company’s request was met with opposition right out of the gate.
“You are putting the public, again, into economic enslavement,” Betty Jarvis testified.
“It’s just another example of successive rate hikes that just pile on top of each other,” Kanawha County Commissioner Kent Carper followed.
West Virginia American Water asked for an increase in both its base rate and its surcharge for infrastructure, which the company says funds improvements to the system including water lines and fire hydrants.
Combined, the two hikes could increase a customer’s bill by about $17 to $25 a month depending on how much water you use.
But our WSAZ Investigation, the High Cost of H2O, found the cost of that service has been steadily increasing. The company’s monthly water bill -- doubling since 2005.
Carper took direct issue Tuesday with those repeated rate increases.
“We are asking the Public Service Commission to send a strong message and deny this rate increase for the reasons in my testimony and, frankly, it’s just not right,” Carper said.
In response to that criticism, West Virginia American attorneys touted a proposed discount for low-income households.
Yet, in later testimony, Burton admitting the cost for that program will be paid for by middle-class and higher-income households.
“So other customers pay for this?” asked Leslie J. Anderson, staff attorney for the state Public Service Commission.
“Based on as proposed, yes,” Burton replied.
“And even people that are just barely above that 200-percent poverty threshold,” Anderson followed up.
“We had to choose what components would go into it and based on, again there’s a lot of information by witness Rae, but we deemed that the 200 percent of the federal poverty level was an appropriate level to go to for the low-income tariff,” Burton testified.
The company president was repeatedly questioned on formulas West Virginia American used to calculate its proposed hike.
The state’s consumer advocate director, Robert Williams, asserted that formula drives rates higher, but Burton disagreed testifying it allows West Virginia American to attract more investment to fix more water lines.
PSC Chairwoman Charlotte Lane asked, if given what West Virginia American is asking for, would the company wait an extra year -- meaning three years instead of two -- before requesting another base rate increase.
Burton would not make that promise.
“So it’s hard to give a definitive answer to an exact time period,” he testified. “We definitely believe that with the rate making that we have put into this case that, that gives us the best opportunity to have the longest period of time that we can between rate cases.”
Testimony is set to resume Wednesday with witnesses for the state’s Consumer Advocate Division among those set to testify.
If approved, the surcharge increase would take effect in January. The base rate hike would follow in February.
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