Pittsville Wisconsin residential water bills will be 42 percent higher next year after the Wisconsin Public Service Commission authorized the utility's first rate increase since 1996. Average residential customers paying $53.15 quarterly for 9,000 gallons of water will pay $75.24 when the new rates take effect in January. The new rates include public fire protection charges for fire hydrants and other firefighting-related infrastructure that was previously collected on property tax bills. Excluding public fire protection charges from the calculation results in a 17 percent increase from $53.14 to $62.34 for average residential customers using 9,000 gallons per quarter, according to the PSC order issued Friday.
The Pittsville Municipal Water Utility needs more revenue to finance its search for water to supply the Gardner Cold Storage Co. facility, which can process 3 million pounds of cranberries a month. "Their juice plant uses a lot of water, and they're putting on a freezer addition, adding to their capacity," said Pittsville Councilman Gerald Jensen. To boost the water supply, Pittsville consolidated two wells and is looking for another well site on the north side of the city, Jensen said. The utility's other major capital investment was a water filtration plant to lower iron concentrations in groundwater.
Rates for commercial and industrial water customers will increase 23 to 25 percent, depending on the size of their connection, excluding the public fire protection charge. Adding the public fire protection charge will increase rates from 29 to 38 percent for the six commercial customer categories and 29 or 33 percent for the two industrial customer categories. The utility sought a 5 percent rate of return on the value of its investment in the infrastructure last fall when it applied for the rate increase. PSC staff recommended a 1 or 2 percent increase, and the utility choose the 1 percent return, which will increase annual revenue by $25,083 to $239,681.
No comments:
Post a Comment