Juli Williams, of Raleigh, North Carolina, has five daughters. Three are in college and two are in high school. She holds a full-time job as a personal assistant. Her husband is on unemployment.
In short, Ms. Williams has her hands full.
But she somehow remarkably has had time to spearhead a grassroots campaign to oppose Aqua America, one of the nation's largest for-profit private water utilities, in its bid to win approval for a water rate increase before North Carolina's public utilities commission this year. Right now, she is organizing homeowners associations across the state to speak and protest outside of 6 public meetings that will occur next month. She is online, in her car posting flyers, on the phone raising early awareness, and directing many to an online petition set up on Change.org by the Hampton Ridge Neighbors, one affected homeowner group.
Why would a mother with this much on her plate take on this issue?
It's because she has to.
"The water bill, it can make or break us on some months. We cannot even budget for it—it's like a constant fear in your side waiting for it to come," she says. In the summer months, it can be more than $200. It is usually higher than her light bill. She has had neighbors come to use her shower after their water was cut off, after being only 10 days late paying their bill, which they couldn't afford. She has had enough.
So have many other Aqua North Carolina customers.
As I detailed in a previous post, the 88,000 customers in Aqua North Carolina's water and sewer service territory often have a monthly bill that's twice has high as families just miles away, who are served by publicly-owned utilities in the state. Now, for the 2nd time in three years, Aqua North Carolina wants to raise its rates–water by 20 percent and sewer by 16 percent.
The company says it does not make its "legally-allowed level of profit," but its reputation as a 'water profiteer' leads residents to be skeptical of these claims to say the least. As the Charlotte Observer reports, the industry is known as a "rate case machine": its business model depends on raising water rates for existing customers to pay for new investments. Wall Street analysts say Aqua America is one of the best-performing water utilities in the nation.
Nationwide, Pennsylvania-based Aqua America has one million customers. The corporation's tactics have been slammed in a watchdog report and its constant rate increases have brought protests everywhere from Austin, Texas to Long Island, New York. In fact, New York Senator Chuck Schumer (D.) has called for a federal investigation of the company, which has had soaring profits while it lobbies for rate increases across the nation and accepts federal dollars.
Aqua Utilities' Pasco customers fighting water rate increase
ANTHONY ALLRED/STAFF
Don Simonson waters the bushes on his front lawn of his Port Richey home. You can see he is standing on his gravel lawn. He said someone else took out the grass and layed the gravel before he moved in 10 years ago. Simonson says he is so frustrated with Aqua Utilities that he's thinking about having the bushes removed so he doesn't have to water them. He said every time he waters the bushes he feels like he's taking a hand full of money and throwing it all over the bushes. He moved to Port Richey from Chicago with his now deceased wife 10 years ago to retire.
ANTHONY ALLRED/STAFF
Charlie Skelton looks over some dried up plants in his front yard. his whole yard is dried up and full of lifeless plants. Skelton is very unhappy with Aqua utilities.
PORT RICHEY - Charlie and Marie Skelton used to have a lush green lawn, and flower beds and a succulent garden bursting with fat aloe vera plants.
But today, their yard is a desert of sand and weeds. The flowers are long gone, and even the aloes are shriveled up and brown. Like most of their neighbors in Jasmine Lakes, the Skeltons stopped watering their yard about the time Aqua Utilities took over their water and sewer service.
Aqua customers pay some of the highest water and sewer rates in Florida – two to three times what neighboring communities charge. And they're about to get even higher if the Florida Public Service Commission approves the company's requested rate increase.
"I'm surrounded by water, and I've got the highest water prices around," Skelton said.
He and his wife routinely pay more than $100 a month for water and sewer service. Aqua Utilities doesn't allow customers to install separate irrigation meters, which would eliminate sewer fees for water that goes directly to the sprinkler system. So Skelton and many of his neighbors simply disconnected their sprinklers or covered their yards with gravel.
Don Simonson has a gravel yard and he's thinking about removing a row of hedges – the only green thing left in his yard. "Every time I water them, I feel like I'm just throwing money away," he said.
In neighboring Palm Terrace and across the county in Zephyr Shores, the rates are even higher. Linda Trautmann, who lives in Palm Terrace, lives alone and conserves water, but her monthly bill fluctuates between $85 and $90, and "it's not fit to drink."
If Aqua's rate increase goes through, her bill would easily exceed $100. The same is true for Roz Angelini, who also lives alone and even switched to low-flow toilets. She's still irked that Aqua wouldn't pay the $100 rebate like publicly owned utility systems.
"You can try to save water, but it doesn't make any difference," she said. "Anything you do to lower your water bill – they just raise the rates."
* * * * *
Aqua Utilities' parent company, Aqua America, is the second largest privately traded water and sewer company in the United State, with operations in 13 states. The company serves 3 million customers, including 117,000 in Florida. It's also one of the most consistently profitable corporations in the nation, having paid quarterly stockholder dividends for 65 years without interruption. "They're an investor-owned utility – just like Progress Energy and Verizon," said Bruce Kennedy, utilities director for Pasco County. "They're in business to make money."
Aqua Utilities makes money even when its customers don't use any water. The company charges customers in its three Pasco County service areas a $50 facility charge before they use the first drop of water. It's a billing strategy that keeps the money flowing in communities with a large number of seasonal residents.
"What this company is doing to these people is very unfair," said Frank Reams, a retired customer service manager for a telephone company. "They charge customers a $50 monthly facility fee even when they're not in the house."
A cofounder of Friends of Locally Owned Water in Florida, or FLOW, Reams is volunteering his time to help Aqua customers fight the rate hikes. Reams said the company's customer service record is appalling. "The PSC regulates 160 water companies in the state of Florida," he said. "This company accounts for 47 percent of the total complaints."
In February, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection cited Aqua Utilities' Palm Terrace sewer treatment plant for being "significantly out of compliance." Inspectors found dozens of violations, among them "solid waste was observed in the southern pond, and large solids were at the surface of both ponds."
Inspectors noted: this is a repeat item.
Company spokeswoman Gretchen Toner said she couldn't comment on the inspection report other than to say, "We are in compliance and our folks are addressing the issues in the letter."
Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano hosted a town hall meeting for Aqua customers earlier this month in Jasmine Lakes. More than 400 people attended.
Mariano is helping organize a bus trip to Tallahassee for the PSC's May 24 meeting. The commission is scheduled to rule on the rate case.
On March 11, Pasco Commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the rate increase. Mariano said Aqua's facility charges are already 237 percent higher than Pasco County's charges. "These people can't afford it," he said. "Imagine being a single lady on a retirement income who used to pay $40 a month, and now you're paying $150."
* * * * *
The PSC approved a rate increase for Aqua Utilities in 2009, but the company applied for another increase a year later. In the application, Aqua executives said they need the rate increase to pay for $12 million in capital improvements. Another reason is that since the 2009 rate increase, Aqua's customers have reduced their water consumption by some 16 percent. Hundreds of customers have installed private irrigation wells – including 136 in one community.
"Faced with these dire conditions, the company has no choice but to seek timely rate relief," Aqua attorney Bruce May wrote. In a letter to PWC Chairwoman Nancy Argenziano, May wrote that the company's anticipated 10-percent profit margin would drop to 1 percent without the rate increase.
"The PSC guaranteed them an 11 percent rate of return," Mariano said.
Mariano wants a law that ties the company's profits to its water quality and service. If people have poor water quality, the PSC could lower their rate of return to zero.
Aqua Utilities Florida makes up just 4 percent of the company's overall assets, and its sudden drop in revenues has had little effect on the bottom line. Aqua America posted $124 million in profits last year – a 19 percent increase over 2009.
CEO Nicholas DeBenedictis called 2010 "one of the most successful financial years of my 19 years with the company," in a news release.
In an interview Friday, Toner said the company's overall health doesn't reflect the situation in Florida, where the company netted $176,00 last year. "We're just a little bit above breaking even," she said. "And we can't operate at a loss."
She said that utilities in each state operate independently, and the parent company does not shift funds from one state to another to pay for capitol improvements. In Florida, many of the systems Aqua purchased over the years needed substantial repairs.
"The systems had been neglected for some time," Toner said. "And consequently, the customers hadn't had a rate increase in a dozen years."
So far in 2011, the company has received rate increases in other states that will bring in an additional $6.8 million in revenue, a news release stated. The pending rate cases in Florida and other states could bring in another $26.6 million.
Skelton said he'll be taking the bus trip up to Tallahassee in May.
"This is like a gold mine for them," Skelton said. "It's a monopoly." lkinsler@tampatrib.com (813) 259-8109
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The stories about shady business practices at Aqua America (in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, etc.) just keep rolling in.
In our own state, the regulator for the TCEQ whose job it is to decide rate increases is MARRIED to the head of Aqua Texas for our area.
This certainly brings new credence to the notion of government "being in bed with" business in Texas!
Ethics complaint filed against Florida water rates regulator for socializing with Aqua America employee while negotiating their rate increase request
An ethics complaint has been filed against Florida Public Service Commission Chairman Art Graham for allegedly socializing with officials from a water utility that has a rate increase case pending before the commission.
Frank Reams, a Zephyrhills resident, said in a complaint filed Tuesday with the Florida Commission on Ethics that Graham spent an hour conversing over drinks with Aqua America Inc. regional president Christopher Franklin and regulatory counsel Kimberly Joyce.
They were talking in the Renaissance Hotel lobby on Feb. 15 during a national Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Conference in Washington, the complaint states.
Bryn Mawr, Pa.-based Aqua America's subsidiary Aqua Utilities Florida Inc. has about 16,000 customers in 17 Florida counties, including roughly 1,200 Lake Osborne Estates residents west of Lake Worth.
The company doubled Lake Osborne's rates in 2009 and is seeking another 30 percent increase this year.
Graham could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Reams said Graham did not attend customer meetings the PSC held in October in half a dozen cities where customers asked that the rates not be raised. He filed the complaint after reading news reports that stated Graham and Aqua officials talked for an hour.
While he is not an Aqua customer, Reams said a couple of people at his church are and he became concerned because they cannot afford to pay more for water.
"They have a pending case. They will be deliberating on the 24th of May. We hope to have a bus-load of people at that agenda conference," Reams said.
Graham, a former Jacksonville city councilman, was appointed to the commission in July.
Florida law states that a commissioner must avoid impropriety in all of his activities and must act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the commission.
The Commission on Ethics will set out to determine whether the complaint indicates a possible violation of any law. If so, its staff will start an investigation.
Aqua Texas, Woodcreek's overpriced monopoly water supplier, is the poster child for water privatization in America today. Food and Water Watch uses Aqua America, Aqua Texas's parent company, to show how it is done...to you.
Executive Summary
Aqua America is the second largest publicly traded water and wastewater corporation based in the United States. It has pushed its way to the top through a strategy of aggressive acquisitions and drastic rate increases.
Aiming to make several dozen acquisitions a year, the company targets smaller systems to avoid a citizenry armed with resources to fight the takeover. And it pursues systems in states that have fast growing populations, corporate friendly regulatory environments and considerable investment needs.
Of course, all of this is done with an eye toward its bottom line.
Not long after taking over a system, the company begins its almost continual process of increasing rates. In just the first nine months of 2007, the company increased rates in nine locations. It has nine additional rate increases pending and plans even more over the course of 2008.
While families see skyrocketing water bills, the company sees booming revenue growth: 13 percent in 2007 alone. But rather than reinvesting all the money from community bills into improving their water and sewer systems, as a public utility would do – the company is delivering solid returns to its shareholders.”
Discontent is growing among its customers, and many communities are beginning to speak up. In some cases, they even are kicking out Aqua America and reclaiming public control over their vital water and sewer infrastructure.
Aqua America is failing to protect the public interest. Instead of private control of their water systems, communities need a national trust fund for clean and safe water. Federal support for public utilities will do what Aqua America has not done: A trust fund will help ensure families across the country have access to clean, safe and affordable water.
Juli Williams, of Raleigh, North Carolina, has five daughters. Three are in college and two are in high school. She holds a full-time job as a personal assistant. Her husband is on unemployment.
Jess Leber is a Change.org editor. She most recently covered climate and energy issues as a reporter in Washington, D.C 
