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Confident_End_3848 t1_ixz6p8e wrote

Reply to comment by dherrmann in The danger of for-profit water companies such as Aqua America by [deleted]

The only saving grace might be that the PUC regulates gas and electric utilities. The PUC generally has to approve their rate increases. Water companies don’t have that kind of oversight.

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Tahns t1_ixzc96x wrote

That is false. Private water and sewer companies are indeed regulated by the PUC. Source: am environmental engineer who deals with this stuff.

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ClevelandNaps t1_ixzcs81 wrote

I was going to reply the same- private utilities are regulated by PUC, including water and sewer utilities.

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Confident_End_3848 t1_ixzdofq wrote

Ok, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the news report on anything besides rate increases requests for electricity and gas utilities.

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AbsentEmpire t1_ixzm91y wrote

Water rate increases get covered by the news as well.

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MomsSpecialFriend t1_ixzi0m4 wrote

Okay so they will just raise it 50% per year like UGI, PPL and all of my utilities.

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pa_bourbon t1_ixzx5sb wrote

There are two components of a gas or electric bill. One portion is the commodity itself - by PA law the utility makes no money on the commodity - it’s a pass thru. Natural gas prices have surged due to a number of factors including the war in Ukraine. Since quite a bit of our electricity is also generated by natural gas, the gas cost increases impact electricity too. There is a quarterly adjustment to the price that the PUC approves to make sure the utility is making no money on the commodity.

The remainder of the bill is a flat fee (approved by the PUC), as well as transmission and distribution charges (also approved by the PUC). Utilities have massive investments in the pipes, wires and other infrastructure that delivers the commodities to your homes. That infrastructure costs money to build and maintain. The providers of the capital to build that infrastructure are guaranteed a rate of return in order to invest due to the long payback period on the investment (20-30 years in some cases). That rate of return is set by the PUC and managed through a public rate making process - you can literally attend the hearings in Harrisburg if you wish.

Utilities rarely get everything they ask for in a rate case and often settle for less - resulting in less than optimal maintenance of this vital infrastructure.

Unfortunately we are paying for years of under investing. No one is getting rich on this - in fact quite a bit of utility stock is held in retirement funds by unions and other group investors due to its stable steady return.

Source - I work close to this industry.

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dherrmann t1_iy0hwfk wrote

I’ve read the PUC minutes. They approved Aua’s drastic increases so Aqua would take on a “troubled” local water authority Old boys club.

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dherrmann t1_iy0hlqu wrote

Sure they do. The PUC happily passed Aqua America water and sewer rate increases

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