Lawyers for Charleston and Kanawha County are calling for West Virginia American Water's request for an infrastructure surcharge to be postponed, because of the severe flooding that hit the county in June.
The city and county lawyers filed a motion Wednesday asking the state Public Service Commission to temporarily suspend the water utility's case, which could increase the company's infrastructure spending by $32.5 million over the next two years and increase the average customer's monthly bill by another 89 cents per month.
"It is untenable for WVAW to actively seek to impose a water service surcharge on thousands of West Virginia residents still recovering from the June 22, 2016, flood," said Andrew Gunnoe and Paul Ellis, the county and city attorneys.
It is not the first time that a party to the PSC case has called for the infrastructure surcharge case to be postponed or canceled altogether.
The PSC's Consumer Advocate Division, which is responsible for representing residential customers in front of the commission, called for the entire case to be dismissed in early June.
The three-member commission denied that motion.
According to documents filed in the case, West Virginia American would like to spend $88.8 million using the proposed surcharge during the next four years, including roughly $20 million for a new 7-mile section of pipeline connecting Weston to Webster Springs.
American Water officials say the surcharge is needed to compensate the company more quickly for upgrading its aging water system that spans 19 counties in the state.
All of this follows a PSC ruling in February that gave American Water an $18.2 annual revenue increase that increased the average water customer's bills by $6 a month.
Reach Andrew Brown at
andrew.brown@wvgazettemail.com,
304-348-4814 or follow
@Andy_Ed_Brown on Twitter.