Illinois American Water Acquires Village of Ransom Water System
April 26 2016 - 3:24PM
Business Wire
Acquisition will add about 170 new water
customers in Streator District
Illinois American Water President Bruce Hauk, today announced
the Company’s acquisition of the Village of Ransom water system.
The purchase of the system adds approximately 170 customers to the
Company’s customer base in the Streator District and serves a
population of nearly 370 residents.
The Village of Ransom Board voted in favor of the sale on Sept.
9, 2015 and the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) approved the
sale for $175,000 on Feb. 24, 2016. Today, Illinois American Water
acquired the water system.
“We look forward to investing in the Village of Ransom and
ensuring customers have access to quality water service,” said
Hauk. “We are excited to join and contribute to the Ransom
community.”
Acting Village of Ransom President Matt Hauser is also
enthusiastic in his support of the acquisition. He said, “We are
looking forward to Illinois American Water joining our community
and helping us meet our water needs. Their knowledge and ability to
provide reliable water service to our residents is an investment in
our public health and economic future.”
Currently the drinking water in Ransom has exceedingly high
levels of Radium. Bottled water will continue to be distributed at
Village Hall until the Village of Ransom is connected to Illinois
American Water’s Streator District water distribution system. This
investment of approximately $2 million to install 10 miles of water
main will ensure quality drinking water that meets all EPA
requirements. Barring no unforeseen circumstances, this project is
expected to be completed by the end of 2016.
Additional information will be provided to customers in an
Illinois American Water welcome packet in the mail. This packet
will include information about online account management, billing
and more. Typical water service customers use between 4,500 and
6,000 gallons of water per month. A Village of Ransom customer
using 5,000 gallons a month will pay approximately $45 for water
service. This is a decrease of about $8 a month.
The appraisal process used for the Ransom water system was
conducted under the supervision of the Illinois Commerce Commission
(ICC) and established as part of the Illinois Water Systems
Viability Act. According to Hauk, this new law gives communities an
alternative to value their water and/or wastewater system when
considering being acquired by an investor-owned water utility. He
said, “Previous law only allowed the investor-owned water or sewer
utility to pay the original cost minus depreciation to acquire a
small system, public or private. Because of this, systems were
deprived of receiving adequate value for their system.”
The Ransom water system will be incorporated into the company’s
Streator District, which currently serves residents in Streator,
Kangley, Reading, Dana, Long Point and Ancona.
About Illinois American Water
Illinois American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE:
AWK), is the largest investor-owned water utility in the state,
providing high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater
services to approximately 1.2 million people. American Water also
operates a customer service center in Alton and a quality control
and research laboratory in Belleville. American Water is the
largest and most geographically diverse publicly traded U.S. water
and wastewater utility company. Marking its 130th anniversary this
year, the company employs 6,700 dedicated professionals who provide
regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other
related services to an estimated 15 million people in 47 states and
Ontario, Canada. More information can be found by visiting
www.amwater.com.
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Illinois American WaterKaren CottonExternal Affairs
Manager309-566-4126
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