About 26,000 Virginia homes and businesses, including hundreds in Richmond’s suburbs, will see some relief from the sharp rise in bills Aqua Virginia began charging in February – but going forward they’ll pay 31% to 43% more for water than they paid last year, the State Corporation Commission decided.
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The decision comes after a more than yearlong review by commission staff and a compromise reached by the company, SCC staff, the Office of the Attorney General and five counties that cut the amount of the increase Aqua sought.
For residents of 14 Hanover County subdivisions, as well as five in Goochland County, two in Powhatan County and one in New Kent County, the increase amounts to a 40% hike over Aqua’s previous, 2021 increase, bringing an average bill from $42.56 a month last year to $59.50 a month going forward, SCC filings show.
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Residents of nine other Hanover County subdivisions, along with residents of single subdivisions in Goochland, Powhatan, Charles City and Dinwiddie counties, pay a 31% increase, which brings the average monthly bill from $44.10 to $57.83, the filings show.
Aqua Virginia operates in 37 counties
In addition, residents of four Goochland County subdivisions will see 11% increases in sewer bills, bringing the monthly average from $75.17 to $84.65.
The increase angered customers, with more than 2,800 writing in to protest.
“I can’t even afford to water my lawn, I restrict the number of showers I take each week, I am constantly coaching my 88-year-old mother-in-law to not stand at the kitchen sink and run the water, it is too expensive to hand wash her dish,” Ron Eves, a Fluvanna County customer, told the SCC.
William Gatewood, a ratepayer in Nellysford in Nelson County, called the increase “exorbitant … they file for an out-of-sight increase to pad their pockets and use our funds to make changes to another community system,” adding that the Nelson County system that serves him was well maintained and did not need improvements when Aqua Virginia took it over, unlike some of the company’s other systems.
Hanover County-based Aqua Virginia operates 191 water systems and nine wastewater systems in 37 Virginia counties.
The commission ordered Aqua Virginia to issue refunds with interest to the extent interim rates that have been in effect since Feb. 5 were higher than the new rates. Its order did not detail what these refunds would be.
Higher than the state average for small water systems
But the compromise cut 20% from the total amount Aqua Virginia wanted to collect from its customers, reducing that sum by $1.4 million to an increase of just under $5.5 million. In all, the rates would allow Aqua Virginia to collect $28.6 million annually.
That “likely represents the best outcome customers could hope to receive in this case,” the Office of the Attorney General commented when it said it was reluctantly approving the compromise.
Aqua Virginia president John J. Aulbach has said the company needed significantly higher rates to cover increased operating expenses as well as the cost of more than $30 million it has invested to replace and repair aging plants and equipment.
Aqua Virginia’s rates are higher than the state average for small water systems, which ran at just over $30 a month for water and $41 for sewer service. Aqua Virginia says such comparisons are not fair because most systems can finance investments with tax-free municipal bonds, with lower interest rates than it can get as a for-profit company. It said the suburban systems that customers often compare Aqua Virginia to, can benefit from economies of scale because they serve larger and more homogeneous customer bases.
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Dave Ress (804) 649-6948
dress@timesdispatch.com
By the numbers
31% to 43%:the range of increase Aqua Virginia's customers will pay for water.
2,800:Customers who wrote the State Corporation Commission to protest the increases
191:Water systems Aqua Virginia operates in 37 Virginia counties.
9: Wastewater systems Aqua Virginia operates in 37 Virginia counties.
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Dave Ress
State Politics / Growth and Development Reporter
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