Residents can have voice in water-rate hike

The Global Water rate increase task force met Monday with representatives from the Residential Utility Consumer Office to discuss the water utility rate hearing set for July 15 and how residents can offer feedback on the proposed increase.

Attendees learned how to get involved and possible strategies.

The consumer office reviews all utility rate increase applications filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission and represents the interests of Arizona residents in rate-related proceedings.

Meeting attendees included Home Owner Association board members, Maricopa residents and a representative from Global Water, as well as Mayor Christian Price who created the task force.

“The Home Owner Association’s have thousands of constituents who are planning to go to the Arizona Corporation Commission hearing,” Province Community Manager Shelley Reith said.

RUCO representatives Michelle Wood and Bill Rigsby told residents how to get involved.

“The Residential Utility Consumer Office has intervened,” Wood said. “The intervention date for parties who wish to intervene formally is March 1.”

Global Water is requesting an increase that translates into a monthly rate increase of $16.84, from $33.16 to $50, for a residential customer served by a 5/8-inch and 3/4-inch meter that uses 7,000 gallons per month for its Santa Cruz water system.

The rate hike would fund a 27.8 percent increase, about an additional $2.7 million.

For its Palo Verde sewage company, residential customers served by 5/8-inch or 3/4-inch water meters would see an increase from $62.91 to $78.63, or 25 percent. That increase would fund a 28.9 percent increase of its current gross annual revenues, approximately $3.6 million.

Interveners receive all case filings, can file testimony, conduct discovery, cross-examine witnesses and have a place at the table during the hearing, Rigsby said.

Interveners are required to file a written Motion to Intervene with the ACC, which is also sent to Global Water. Instructions on what to include can be found here. 

“The more interveners you have, the more points of view the judge is going to hear and the commissioners will too,” Rigsby said.

Parties can also file public comments by filling out this form. Public comments do not serve as a formal intervention. 

“Once you’re granted intervention status, you can’t take part in public comment,” Rigsby said. “The commissioners have to act as judges on the matter; they are barred from directly talking about the specifics of the case with a party that’s directly involved in the case.”

Rigsby said the best way to get a public comment meeting in Maricopa is for ratepayers to write a lot of letters to the ACC.

“The more letters they get, the more inclined they are to hold a meeting,” he said.

Rigsby said RUCO’s job is to evaluate Global Water’s application and make sure Maricopa residents are getting the best value for their dollar.

“We’re looking at it strictly from an accounting standpoint,” Rigsby said. “We’re verifying what they’re presenting is accurate.”

It’s up to residents, he said, to testify and show the commission how the rates affect them and the community.

“What business in their right mind is going to consider coming down here?” said Al Brandenburg, vice president of Alterra’s HOA. “I think that, along with all the other facts that come to bear, has to be added into the mix for both the judge and the commission to consider.”

Ted Yocum, vice president of Desert Cedars’ HOA, said he is concerned too many complaints will backfire.