CT Water Reaches Rate Settlement With State Regulators

TOLLAND/ELLINGTON/VERNON, CT — Connecticut Water Company on Monday announced a settlement with state regulators that will keep rates flat for roughly the next year-and-a-half.

On Aug. 15, Connecticut Water Company received unanimous approval from the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on a settlement agreement that was developed between the utility and the state’s consumer advocate at the Office of the Consumer Counsel.

“Understanding the current economic climate and the impacts it has had on our customers and Connecticut’s municipalities, we are working hard to hold down any cost increases,” said David C. Benoit, president and chief executive officer of Connecticut Water Service Inc.“We sought recovery of only a limited portion of the investments made in our water supplies, treatment, tanks, equipment and other improvements in the systems across the company since the last general rate case in 2010. This agreement allows us to continue to serve customers and communities with high-quality water and service while maintaining the financial strength to invest in our systems.”

Richard Sobolewski, supervisor of technical analysis of the OCC, said, “The Office of Consumer Counsel was pleased to reach this settlement agreement with the Company that includes a balance of trade-offs and compromises that reduces the impacts on customers’ rates and stabilizes those rates until at least January 2020 while allowing Connecticut Water to continue to invest in its water system to maintain the service level for customers.”

With the approval, customers will still receive safe, clean drinking water for less than a penny per gallon, officials said.

Water bills under the new rates will increase by approximately 8 cents per day, or $2.37 per month, for a residential customer using the average 15,000 gallons of water per quarter.

There will be no change in the rates charged for public fire service, officials said.

Key provisions of the Settlement Agreement include:

• The current approved Water Infrastructure and Conservation Adjustment charge will be reset to zero. The separate WICA charge for eligible PURA-approved infrastructure projects now on customers’ bills will be removed, and that same amount rolled into base rates.
• The Company will not increase base rates further before January 2020, at the earliest.
• The Company may still seek approval for new WICA charges and will modify the Water Revenue Adjustment charge, as approved by PURA before a general rate case.
• The Settlement Agreement pertains only to customers of the Connecticut Water Company. Heritage Village Water Company and Avon Water Company customers will not see their rates change as a result of this agreement.

Connecticut Water officials said that customers of all its companies — Connecticut Water, Avon Water and Heritage Village — will soon have a new DPH Safe Drinking Water Fee added to their water bills for a state assessment to support the Connecticut Department of Public Health.

The new DPH fee being assessed to all the state’s public water systems is a pass-through charge paid to the state of Connecticut, intended to help the DPH maintain its Safe Drinking Water Program and meet its obligations under the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act, officials said.

Photo Credit: Chris Dehnel

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