Water and sewer rates are scheduled to increase for customers of the recently sold Ohio American Water (OAW) after the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) Wednesday approved a settlement between the utility and the PUCO Staff.
The rate increase will be lower than what OAW, now known as Aqua Ohio Water Company, originally proposed as a result of negotiations among the utility, the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC), and the PUCO Staff in two related cases.
In January of this year, the OCC signed a settlement in a separate case related to Aqua America Inc.’s acquisition of OAW. With that settlement, OAW agreed to reduce its proposed rate increase by about $2 million.
The settlement approved Wednesday by the PUCO was not signed or opposed by the OCC. In approving the settlement, the PUCO has authorized OAW to increase its rates to collect an additional $4.2 million from all customers – about half of the utility’s original request.
An average residential customer’s bill in Marion, based on monthly usage of 7 ccf, will increase by about 11.1 percent from $53.65 to $59.58. Other communities away from Marion will see even higher increases.
About Marion Online News
