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California-American Water Co. has advised the state Public Utilities Commission that it wants to boost water rates by 79 percent in 2009 and collect a new surcharge over nine months instead of two years.
California-American Water Co. has advised the state Public Utilities Commission that it wants to boost water rates by 79 percent in 2009 and collect a new surcharge over nine months instead of two years.
The proposals come on the heels of a series of rate increases that have Felton customers paying twice what residents of the neighboring San Lorenzo Valley Water District pay.
“It is completely outrageous,” said Jim Mosher, chairman of the legal team of Felton Friends of Locally Owned Water. “We were just hit with gigantic rate increases.
“This demonstrates that the company is not able to operate effectively and efficiently and makes it even more important that the system be acquired.”
At the urging of Felton F.L.O.W., the water district has filed an eminent domain action to purchase the Felton system, a move that Cal-Am is resisting.
In a preliminary filing, Cal-Am told the PUC it intends to boost rates by 79 percent in 2009 and 4 percent in each of the two succeeding years. Spokesman Evan Jacobs said the official application would be filed in January.
The extra money would be used to install a well — the need for which is disputed by F.L.O.W. — to hire an additional employee, and to pay for new water meters, pipelines and valves.
“Our rates in Felton are based on the actual and proposed cost of providing water service,” Jacobs said. “Every water system in the county is raising rates right now.”
In addition to the rate filing, Cal-Am said it prefers to collect $67,000 from Felton customers over nine months rather than two years, as it originally planned to do. The money will pay F.L.O.W.’s legal fees as an “intervenor” in the most recent PUC rate case, as ordered by the PUC.
F.L.O.W. has asked the PUC to have Cal-Am spread the charge over all of its California districts because each received some benefit from F.L.O.W.’s work.
The group’s wants to oppose the new proposed increase, Mosher said, but it finds it “difficult to challenge at the PUC” because of legal costs. The $67,000 granted by the PUC went to F.L.O.W.’s San Francisco attorney, Ed O’Neill, who, Mosher said, is unlikely to work for so little again.
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The last thing we need is more ammunition for FLOW. Fight the rate hike.