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municipalauthorities.org | 33 A package of bills pending in the House would require utility companies to use lower values for newly purchased water and sewer systems when seeking rate increases, spread the impact over a longer period and improve transparency of the process. According to the Commonwealth Court’s decision in July 2023, Aqua PA and East Whiteland made an agreement for the sale of the township’s wastewater system for nearly $55 million and applied for PUC approval. The OCA filed a protest to the application. In a proceeding before an administrative law judge, customers of Aqua PA and the East Whiteland system raised concerns that their rates would go up as a result of the sale. Aqua PA presented testimony that as a large utility company it was well prepared and had ample resources to take over operation of the East Whiteland system. It also asserted that its ownership would provide other benefits such as better customer service, the ability to spread risk over a larger customer base, and in-house environmental and regulatory experts. It argued that its ownership of the township’s fresh water system would allow it to coordinate projects to avoid service disruptions. The OCA provided evidence that the price Aqua PA was offering was inflated by more than 64%. Aqua PA calculated that it would need to recover more than $5 million in revenue annually as a result of the sale but agreed to freeze East Whiteland wastewater customers’ rates for three years. After that, rates could increase between 66.5% and 133%, depending on whether the cost was paid only by East Whiteland customers or Aqua PA’s entire customer base. OCA also argued that if the system remained a public entity, customers would benefit from the system not paying taxes and not having shareholders. The administrative law judge recommended that Aqua PA’s application be denied, but the PUC found that the benefits of the deal outweighed the harm to the public. It granted the application for the purchase, albeit at a slightly reduced price of $54.4 million. In the OCA’s appeal of the decision, Commonwealth Court President Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer wrote that the potential benefits of Aqua PA’s technical, financial and operational assistance to the township’s wastewater system were not substantial enough to outweigh the known harms. S (This article was updated at 8:50 a.m., Tuesday, June 18, 2024, to include a statement from Aqua PA.) Source: https://penncapital-star.com Reading | Hawley | Lititz | Mountaintop | Pottsville | Pittsburgh | State College 800.825.1372 | entecheng.com Inf ras t ructure means more to the people who rel y on i t . We not only understand the needs of the systems and people who have to work non-stop to serve our communites with water and wastewater services; we depend on them too. Peter Hall has been a journalist in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for more than 20 years, most recently covering criminal justice and legal affairs for The Morning Call in Allentown. His career at local newspapers and legal business publications has taken him from school board meetings to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and many points of interest between. He earned a degree in journalism from Susquehanna University. Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom ( www.statesnewsroom.com) , the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.