AQUA should take note

I realize this is not the same size increase that is being requested here but I like that fact the A.G. is looking at the increase requests. Don's ADHOC should be heartened by this and it may weaken AQUA's position. The following article is from the Rockford Register-Star. Ken

CHERRY VALLEY — The Illinois attorney general’s office has intervened in a rate case in which subsidiaries of Utilities Inc. are proposing water rate increases to three Illinois communities, including one in Cherry Valley.

An expert from the attorney general’s office has testified the proposed 300 percent rate increase to residents of Coventry Hills and Coventry Creek subdivisions would constitute “rate shock.”

“Sometimes, even though a company may have an alleged need, you cannot just put a very large rate increase on customers without them suffering what they call rate shock,” said Chicago-based attorney Steve Becker, who is representing a Joliet home-owners group in the case. “You have to increase your rates gradually so they can be assimilated by the customers.”

Great Northern Utilities Inc., a subsidiary of Utilities Inc., has proposed raising the average monthly bill for its approximately 360 Cherry Valley customers from $21.02 to $84.68.

Rate increases by subsidiaries of Utilities Inc. have also been proposed in the Joliet neighborhood of Camelot and Lake Holiday in Kendall County.

Utilities Inc. representatives said the higher rates are necessary because there hasn’t been a rate increase since 1998 in Cherry Valley and the company has invested about $1.3 million in capital expenses.

But the attorney general’s expert witness said that’s not a legitimate reason.

“The principles of gradualism and rate continuity cannot be ignored by the utility or the (Illinois Commerce) commission simply because the utility chose to accept its realized rate of return over a period of years before seeking rate increases based on a claimed change in its cost of service,” Roger Colton, a Massachusetts-based attorney, testified.

The case is expected to be resolved this fall.