CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Public Service Commission will take the next 300 days to decide if West Virginia American Water Company should get some, part or all of a rate increase.
The company recently filed with the PSC for a 27.9 percent increase on its customers. The average water customer would pay $16 more a month if the entire request is approved. The average residential customer currently pays about $66 a month.
WVAWC President Scott Wyman said the utility is seeking to gain back the money it’s invested.
“We have invested over $300 million in the system here since our last rate case,” Wyman told MetroNews in a recent interview. “It’s an effort to make sure we can deliver clean, safe, reliable water to everybody in our service territory. It’s a significant investment and that’s the reason for our rate case.”
West Virginia American has nearly 172,000 water customers in West Virginia. The company’s sewer system customers has been growing and is getting closer to 2,000.
Wyman said efforts need to continue in West Virginia to extend water service and replace old, outdated system.
“If you look at a national study done recently, we (West Virginia) are like fourth worst (in water infrastructure), that’s the state as a whole,” Wyman said.
The utility, which announces water line replacement projects several times a month, has been in the purchase mode the last few years, buying up smaller water and sewer systems that have been operated for years by smaller municipalities and local public service districts that can no longer pay for the upkeep of their systems. The PSC also often turns to West Virginia American to take over systems that are struggling.
Most recently it announced a $300,000 project in Kanawha City, a $250,000 infrastructure upgrade in Buffalo, a $390,000 project in Huntington and work in Nitro that will cost $250,000.
West Virginia American has asked the PSC to phase-in the rate increase. Wyman said they recognize that “customers are at the end of every water pipe.”
“We want to make sure we’re investing the best way we can, recovering that investment the best way we can,” Wyman said. “It is kind of that balance between improving the infrastructure and still not being too hard on customers.”
If approved, the average customer’s bill would increase $11 a month in phase 1 of the increase and another $5 in phase 2.
West Virginia American Company is also asking the PSC to approve what Wyman calls the “Universal Affordability Discount Tariff” for customers who are having a tough time paying their water bill.
“It’s another option for our lower-income customers to help cover their bills, in addition to some of the other things that are already available,” Wyman said.
The proposed program sets up a range of discounts for customers in relation to their incomes and how those incomes relate to the federal poverty level.
It remains to be seen what groups will intervene in the case. County governments and municipalities have done so in the past.