20050310Press Release.pdf

IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
Case No. UWI-04-
March 10, 2005 .
Contact: Gene Fadness [phone]
Website: www.puc.idaho.gov
United Water rate hearings set for late May
Boise - Staff from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission will conduct a public hearing and a
teclIDical hearing in connection with United Water s request for a 21.46 percent average increase
in rates.
The public hearing is set for Wednesday, May 25, at 7 p., is at the commission s hearing room
at 472 W. Washington St. in Boise. At that hearing, members of the public may testify before thethree-member commission.
. .
A technical hearing is scheduled for May 24-, beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the commission
hearing room. At the technical hearing, commissioners will hear from witnesses representing the
company, commission staff and intervenors in the case. Intervenors include the City of Boise; the
Community Action Partnership, representing customers on fixed and low incomes; Idaho Rivers
United, an environmental organization; and two individual customers. The technical hearing is
open to the public although members of the public do not testify at this hearing.
United Water, which provides water to 75AOO customers in Ada and Canyon counties, wants to
increase revenues by nearly $6.8 million to recover the cost of capital improvements and to meet
the demands of a growing customer base. Much of the proposed increase is due to the
construction of the Columbia Water Treatment Plant near Micron. The plant will treat surface
water to make it suitable for drinking. The company contends that groundwater supplies are
limited and that surface water sources must be used to meet customer demands.
Since its last rate case five years ago, the company claims increased investment of $46.5 million
for the Columbia plant, wellhead treatment for the Bali Hai and Maple Hills wells, water storage
facilities to provide fire protection and sustainable pressure to customers, a non-hazardous
disinfection system that replaces all liquid chlorine gas operations and replacement of aging
infrastructure that includes 16 miles of water mainline, 2 900 water services and 22 000 meters.
The commission has the authority to accept, reject or modify the company s proposal.
In 2000, the company received an increase of7.8 percent after it originally requested 11 percent.
Its largest increase was in 1994, when the company got a 22.59 percent increase, those costs
primarily attributable to the construction of the Marden Treatment Plant off Warm Springs
A venue.
Customers who don t want to testify at the public hearing can file written comments through
April 6. Those comments can be filed electronically from the commission s Website at
www.puc.idaho.gov. or they can be mailed to 472 W. Washington St., Boise, 83720-0074, or
faxed to 334-3762.
The company s application and direct testimony are available for public inspection at
commission offices and at United Water s headquarters at 8248 West Victory Road in Boise.
The application and testimony can also be viewed from the commission s Website. Go to "Hot
Items " in the upper right-hand comer of the page and click on "UWI Rate Case.
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