Aqua America Commends North Carolina Supreme Court’s Affirmation of New Water & Wastewater Charge to Improve Quality & Serv...
August 24 2015 - 10:18AM
Business Wire
The North Carolina Supreme Court last week upheld the North
Carolina Utilities Commission’s (NCUC) use of a water and
wastewater system improvement charge (WSIC) that enables utilities
to accelerate distribution and treatment improvements for
customers. The state enacted the law that created the surcharge in
2013.
“The court’s decision is great news for customers of regulated
water and wastewater utilities throughout North Carolina,” said
Aqua America President and CEO Christopher Franklin. “The ruling
enables Aqua and other water companies to continue to accelerate
much-needed capital spending to improve quality and service for our
customers, and the state provides rigorous oversight and approvals
for every project.”
The rate mechanism is hailed as a best practice by the National
Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and can lengthen
the amount of time between utility base rate increases while
enabling a utility to recover capital costs in a timely way through
a bill surcharge. This approach is in use in more than a dozen
states across the country. Projects funded through the North
Carolina WSIC receive rigorous regulatory oversight by the NCUC and
the Public Staff.
Aqua is using the WSIC in North Carolina to accelerate filter
projects to address customer dissatisfaction with discolored water
caused by naturally occurring iron and manganese in the
groundwater. Each request for approval of a capital project under
the WSIC requires at least the same level of scrutiny as a base
rate case, and every project is available for review in the next
base rate case.
Aqua America is one of the largest U.S.-based, publicly traded
water utilities and serves nearly 3 million people in Pennsylvania,
Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, Indiana and
Virginia. Aqua provides water and wastewater service to more than
250,000 people in 51 counties throughout North Carolina. Aqua
America is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker
symbol WTR. Visit AquaAmerica.com for more information.
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Aqua AmericaDonna AlstonO: 610-645-1095M:
484-368-4720DPAlston@AquaAmerica.comorBrian DingerdissenO:
610-645-1191BJDingerdissen@AquaAmerica.com
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