Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PPUC) regulators recently allowed Pennsylvania American Water (PAW) a rate increase that was just half of what the corporate water utility had requested. They also launched an investigation into PAW as a result of complaints of customers who spoke out during rate proceedings. These and other recent PPUC actions can probably be traced to push-back from grass roots groups such as Keep Water Affordable and Neighbors Opposing Privatization Efforts. Read more.
American Water and Essential Utilities subsidiaries are buying up water and sewer systems around New Jersey. Two towns, Gloucester Township and South Orange, are voting in November on whether or not to sell. The Association of Environmental Authorities is teaming up with others who oppose privatization for an online educational event on Wed., Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. to help voters understand why privatizing water/sewer is bad for customers. Speakers will include local residents organizing their communities to protect their own locally owned and democratically run water and wastewater utilities from fall into private hands. More info and registration at the link above.
Also speaking:
- Jeanne M. Fox, retired President and Commissioner, who served on the NJ Board of Public Utilities from 2002-2014
- Richard S. Dovey, retired President of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA)
- Peggy Gallos, Executive Director of the AEA, an association for local, regional and county public agencies that provide water, wastewater and solid waste service in New Jersey.
- Mary Grant, Public Water For All Director at Food & Water Watch, an organization that fights for sustainable food, clean water, and a livable climate for all of us.
In the Public Interest has released a comprehensive report explaining just how bad a deal water and sewer privatization has been for Pennsylvania customers. Gloucester Township, Bernardsville, Hopewell, South Orange and other New Jersey towns considering privatizing should take heed. https://inthepublicinterest.org
Gloucester Township received Local Finance Board permission to dissolve its successful municipal utilities authority in May of 2023… An attorney speaking for the town told the LFB at that time that the leadership team in place at the time had no plans to sell the sewer system… The same leadership team went public with plans to sell the sewer system 10 months later. https://patch.com/new-jersey/gloucestertownship/residents-blast-proposed-sale-gloucester-townships-sewer-utility
South Orange voters may be asked to decide whether to sell their system to NJ American Water. https://patch.com/new-jersey/southorange/south-orange-might-privatize-its-drinking-water-what-we-know-so-far
A 2016 law made it easier for corporate water and sewer utilities to buy systems at inflated prices. The result has been huge increases in costs to their customers across the Commonwealth.
In yet another setback for the mega utility company, an administrative law judge with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has ordered a stay on Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater’s application to purchase the Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority (DELCORA).
Read the full article here
In early September, the three county commissioners of Bucks County, just north of Philadelphia, voted down a $1.1 billion bid from Aqua Pennsylvania to buy their sewer system. This response to an outpouring of citizen concern about what would have been the largest privatization of a public wastewater system in the country illuminates a larger story — both of the encroachment of privatization and the potential for victories when citizens mobilize around its costs.
Read the full article here
Residents are uniting across political lines to battle corporations attempting to privatize their water systems.
Big water companies like American Water, Aqua America, and, in the case of Towamencin, the Florida-based NextEra have been buying up water and wastewater systems in Pennsylvania, after legislation passed there that allows municipalities to sell public utilities more easily.
But in Towamencin and other towns of varying sizes, demographics, and political leanings, they’re meeting unexpected resistance.
Read the full story here
Bucks County Water & Sewer Authority is thinking about selling its sewer system for a little more than $1 billion, but residents are concerned about rates going up.
Watch the video here
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