Hingham Water Prices Cut by 8.2 Percent

Aquarion Water Company announced Wednesday that it will cut Hingham water rates by 8.2 percent. 

The price reduction amounts to a $66 per year decrease in the average Hingham customer’s water bill. Aquarion recently filed an application with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) asking the department to  approve the rate reduction for customers as soon as possible.

The Hingham water company decided to cut rates after they successfully refinanced $30 million in debt associated with its Water Treatment Plant located on Main Street, the company announced in a written release. The company's debt was established in 1995 when the Hingham facility was built. 

With the refinancing, Aquarion will save approximately $926,000 a year and the water company decided that the entire savings be passed on to its customers in Hingham, Hull, and Cohasset.

“Aquarion prides itself on managing costs effectively, while delivering value to our customers,” said John Walsh, Aquarion Water Company Vice President of Operations for Massachusetts and New Hampshire in a written statement.  “We were pleased to be able to take advantage of low interest rates in order to restructure the treatment plant debt, with the most important outcome being lower water bills for our customers.”

The decrease in prices comes just months after the water company raised prices by 10 percent and the average Hingham household saw their bills increase by approximately $6 a month. 

It also comes just a half year after Town Meeting when  Hingham taxpayers agreed to conduct a $320,000 study to see if the townshould take over the water company and run it themselves.  This was done because residents were outraged that the prices had increased twice in the last five years.