Water Rates Increase Becomes Official

Claremont City Manager Tony Ramos is reminding residents that the California Public Utilities Commission adopted a settlement for a rate increase agreed upon by the Golden State Water Company’s the Division of Rate Payer Advocates, and The Utility Reform Network.

According to Ramos the revenue rate increase for the year is 15.6 percent. The settlement also calls for a 2.7 percent increase in 2014 and a 1.8 percent increase in 2015.

“Preliminary analysis shows that an average customer within the Claremont Service Area with a 5/8 meter using 12 hundred cubic feet of water per month will see a rate increase of 11.8 percent or about $5.67,” Ramos wrote. “Customers with a larger meter or using more water may see higher increases. This amount does not reflect surcharges or other fees.”

The new rates were effective January 1. The CPUC also upheld the use of a Water Revenue Adjustment Mechanism, or WRAM charge, Ramos wrote. Golden State Water may impose a surcharge to collect increases retroactively, city officials said.

The city protested this rate increase along with several other cities.

“Despite the protest letters, testimony, and the comments of 700 people that attended the hearing in Claremont to protest, the CPUC granted a double digit rate increase and reaffirmed the WRAM charge. Golden State Water is expected to file their next rate request in July of 2014,” Ramos wrote.