Your water bill may be going up by two cents per gallon if an application submitted by Aqua Pennsylvania on August 19th is approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. The application seeks an increase in water and wastewater rates for its customers in Pennsylvania.
Note that Aqua provides water service in Conshohocken, West Conshohocken, Plymouth Township, and Whitemarsh Township (some portions of this area are serviced by Ambler’s water service or PA American Water). Aqua does not provide wastewater services in these municipalities.
According to the announcement from Aqua, If the company’s full request were to be approved, it would increase a residential water bill for a typical customer using 4,000 gallons per month from $69.35 to $81.32, an increase of $11.97 a month (40 cents a day). The average monthly residential wastewater bill would increase from $55.51 to $73.95. Any new base rates set by the utility commission would not go into effect until 2022.
Aqua outlines that the primary reason for the request is $1.1 billion of capital spending (estimated to be $2,245 per customer) it has made since the last rate request. Aqua has over 490,000 water and wastewater customers throughout Pennsylvania. The capital spending was used to upgrade its distribution and treatment systems, improving drinking water quality and service reliability throughout its water and wastewater operations.
“Since our last rate case, Aqua will have replaced more than 400 miles of aging water main, as well as associated valves, service lines and fire hydrants throughout approximately 5,800 miles of distribution system. These critical improvements enhance service by reducing the number of water main breaks and leakage that can occur from older pipes, thereby reducing environmental impacts,” said Aqua Pennsylvania President Marc Lucca. “We also opened a new state-of-the-art environmental laboratory this year to help us continue our long history of providing safe drinking water to our customers and returning clean wastewater to the environment.” Aqua’s laboratory employees perform about 90,000 water quality tests a year.
“Providing safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater service to our customers and communities is essential to their health, quality of life, environment and economic well-being,” Lucca said. “The vital nature of our mission became even more evident as our employees continued to serve our customers and improve our water and wastewater infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s imperative that we maintain and improve our critical infrastructure to ensure our service is ready when our customers need it.”
Customers can call Aqua at 877.987.2782 for more information about the rate request.