Several hundred protesters are expected in downtown Raleigh this evening to object to their water and sewer bills.
The placard-carriers will be objecting a proposed rate increase by Aqua North Carolina, a private utility that serves communities without municipal water/sewer hookups.
Dozens are expected to attend a public hearing on Aqua's proposed rate hike, to be argued before the N.C. Utilities Commission in the Dobbs Building at 430 Salisbury Street. About a hundred plan to demonstrate outdoors near the commission's office, said organizer Juli Williams, an Aqua customer who lives in the Mallard Crossing community in north Raleigh.
Aqua charges about $100 for a typical monthly bill, about about twice as high as high as municipal utility departments in Raleigh, Charlotte and other towns.
The company is asking the N.C. Utilities Commission for 20.4 percent more for water service and 16.4 percent more for sewer service. It's Aqua's second rate request in three years.
Aqua provides water and/or sewer service to about 88,000 people in parts of 48 counties, including more than 400 subdivisions in Wake County.
Cary-based Aqua North Carolina is a subsidiary of Pennsylvania-based Aqua America, the nation's second-largest private water utility.
The company says it had spent $25 million upgrading its pipes.
Raleigh is one of six venues for public hearings on the proposed rate increase. Last week the utilities commission held a hearing in Winston-Salem and has scheduled a hearing next week in Charlotte.
The utilities commission is also planning an evidentiary hearing -- featuring engineers, accountants and other expert witnesses -- to review a state audit of Aqua's finances in order to determine if the company's rate increase is justified. That hearing, also open for public comment, is scheduled in Raleigh in June.
John Murawski has been a full-time newspaper reporter since 1991, with stints at Legal Times and The Chronicle of Philanthropy (both in Washington, DC), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Palm Beach Post (in South Florida) before arriving at the N&O in December 2004. At the N&O he covers energy (nuclear, coal, renewable, efficiency), hydralic fracturing (or "fracking"), public utilities (both electric and natural gas) and health care. His beat includes Progress Energy, PSNC Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, PowerSecure International, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Biogen Idec and others. You can reach him at 919-829-8932 or
Comments
Aqua America
Tue, 04/12/2011 - 17:56 — rolliemWe (2) are a 22 yr. user of Heater Utilities/Aqua Ametica and have used the same water amount an sewer/usage per year. . . . . $1000.00 If allowed we should have drilled a well and installled a septic system. . . .. . much less than the $22,000. we have paid !
Our usage nor service has been impacted by time . . . only our outrageous rate !