Commission opens docket to consider proposed Eagle Water Company surcharge
BOISE – December 07, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Parties who want to intervene in a request by Eagle Water Company to implement a five-year surcharge must do so by Dec. 17. After that, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission will open the process to public input.
Parties intervene in cases to present testimony, introduce evidence and cross-examine other parties.
Eagle Water serves about 3,500 customers in and around the City of Eagle. It is a privatelyowned water system and not the same entity as the City of Eagle Water Department.
If approved, the surcharge would add about $3.64 to the average residential user’s monthly bill.
Eagle Water seeks the surcharge to pay for a near $800,000 loan to go toward financing about $935,000 in improvements to its water system. The portion of expense not funded by the loan would be paid from $150,000 in the utility’s existing surcharge account.
The commission suspended the application for up to 90 days to further consider the request.
The proposed surcharge would apply only to consumption of more than 600 cubic feet (ccf) per month. (100 cubic feet is about 748 gallons.) If the surcharge were approved, residential customers who use the company’s average of about 21 ccf/month would pay an average $3.64 more per month. A commercial customer who uses the company average of 69 ccf/month would pay about $15.29 more per month.
Eagle Water claims the improvements are needed to alleviate water pressure problems in the northeastern part of its service territory.
The largest portion of the improvements – nearly $600,000 – goes toward construction of a seventh well. Other improvements identified by the company are $150,000 for the main booster station, $62,200 for repairs to Well No. 4, $47,000 to upsize a line at another well, $26,000 for a Hill Road line relocation, $25,600 for repairs to Well No. 6, $13,400 for a State Street bridge line relocation and $6,500 for a bridge line relocation at Horseshoe Bend Road.
Legal and accounting fees total $10,725.
After the Dec. 17 deadline for intervening parties, the commission will convene an informal prehearing conference to schedule future testimony and public comment deadlines and set dates for workshops and/or hearings if necessary.
The company’s application is available on the commission’s website at www.puc.idaho.gov.
Click on “Open Cases” under the “Water” heading and scroll down to Case No. EAG-W-15-01.
All future documents related to the case including company, staff and customer comments will be posted at the same location.
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Contact: Gene Fadness (208) 334-0339, 890-2712
www.puc.idaho.gov
