20220805Comments(5)_5.pdf

From:PUCWeb Notification
To:Jan Noriyuki
Subject:Notice: A comment was submitted to PUCWeb
Date:Friday, August 5, 2022 8:00:08 AM
The following comment was submitted via PUCWeb:
Name: Margaret Cooper
Submission Time: Aug 5 2022 7:52AMEmail: [e-mail]
Telephone: [phone]Address: 4940 N. EZY ST.
Coeurd'alene , ID 83815
Name of Utility Company: Troy Hoffman
Case ID: GSW-W-22-01
Comment: "Hi. I recently received notification of a proposed rate increase for Troy Hoffman water, as requested by fairly recent new owner, Gem State water. I'm opposed to the proposed
68% increase. I would have thought the company would have done their due diligence prior to purchase, anticipating maintenance and improvement issues , and have the funds to sustain,
without such requested increases. With the current economic situation, such an increase would be a hardship.i understand the company is in business to make money, and as a consumer,
expect increases for services. At the same time 68% seems exorbitant. Thank you for your consideration. Margaret Cooper "
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From:PUCWeb Notification
To:Jan Noriyuki
Subject:Notice: A comment was submitted to PUCWeb
Date:Friday, August 5, 2022 12:00:07 PM
The following comment was submitted via PUCWeb:
Name: Denise Novak
Submission Time: Aug 5 2022 11:05AMEmail: [e-mail]
Telephone: [phone]Address: 27981 N. Silver Meadows Loop
Athol, ID 83801
Name of Utility Company: Gen State Water
Case ID: GSW-W-22-01
Comment: "To Whom This May Concern, I am a resident in Silver Meadows Loop. We recently got a letter in the mail from Gem State Water Company that they were going to
increase our rates. I would like to comment on their proposal. Their proposal includes ALL three of the following. 1) Increase our base pay from $21 to $35. 2) Decrease our allotted
amount from 15000 gallons to 10000 gallons. 3) Increase our overage fee from $1.73 per 1000 gallons to $2.35 per 1000 gallons. All of these factors will increase our average water bill
135%! What else in this economy has increased by such a high percent? NOTHING! A few proposals I have are maybe doing one of these but not all 3! We live in an area where we only
water during the summer. Maybe if we don’t use our allotted amount in the off season tbey can roll over. They say it is to update and maintain our water systems. They recently updated
our generator (which it needed it) but they did not put up a back up switch like the old one had. So they are not updating our systems to the standard of the old ones. Now when the
power goes out they have to send someone out to turn on the generator. One time this year when this happened the on call guy didn’t answer and his voicemail was full. I would like you
to take all of these factors into account when hearing their proposal. I hope you can see their proposal is asinine. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. Denise Novak "
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From:PUCWeb Notification
To:Jan Noriyuki
Subject:Notice: A comment was submitted to PUCWeb
Date:Friday, August 5, 2022 5:00:06 PM
The following comment was submitted via PUCWeb:
Name: Susan Niegel
Submission Time: Aug 5 2022 4:24PMEmail: [e-mail]
Telephone: [phone]Address: 34204 N Saint Joe Dr
Spirit Lake, ID 83869
Name of Utility Company: Get State Water
Case ID: GSW-W-22-01
Comment: "I submitted a comment to you on August 1, 2022. However after talking to people I understand that Gem State took an average of everyone living in Spirit Lake East to get the
current rate of $41.86 and spiked it to $70.70 per month if granted this increase. In our case this increase is obscene and should be denied. My husband and I pay $25.55 per month and
never use more water than the minimum allowed water usage by Gem State. If they want to increase our $25.55 by 69% to $44.18 per month, that’s fine. But to bounce us up to $70.70
per month is almost a 300% increase. We should not pay a 300% increase because our water usage is averaged in with households of more than 2 people or those who water lawns and
gardens. "
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From:PUCWeb Notification
To:Jan Noriyuki
Subject:Notice: A comment was submitted to PUCWeb
Date:Friday, August 5, 2022 3:00:07 PM
The following comments were submitted via PUCWeb:
Name: ian kuchenski
Submission Time: Aug 5 2022 2:10PMEmail: [e-mail]
Telephone: [phone]Address: 4745 N troy street
CDA, ID 83815
Name of Utility Company: Troy Hoffman
Case ID: GSW-W-22-01
Comment: "What expenses from Troy Hoffman has Gem State incurred in order to justifyincreasing the rates so drastically? Hoffman currently bills bi-monthly and it is not stated if
that will remain in place or if we will be receiving 2x as many bills and therefore an additional100% base increase. The base allotment has dropped from 20,000 to 10,000 in addition to the
overage rate jumping from $1.12 to $4.15 per 1,000gal which was not included on the letter tohomeowners and is very misleading. If a water user consumed 30,000gal the bill would be
roughly $118.00 during summer months vs $38.70 with the prior rates. These rates areunacceptable without proof of significant expenditures toward system improvements."
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Name: Velorie Crist
Submission Time: Aug 5 2022 2:03PMEmail: [e-mail]
Telephone: [phone]Address: PO Box 815
Spirit Lake, ID 83869
Name of Utility Company: Gem State Water
Case ID: GSW-W-22-01
Comment: "Referencing the above case number: To All Whom It May Concern, I find it quiteconcerning that once again, we are being pressured by an increase in water (a basic,
fundamental, God-given essential to life need) rates. We have not previously been notified ofrate increases and the same when the water system was purchased by SLEWCO several years
ago. We have a 15 acre farm with livestock, gardens and orchards with an average monthlywater bill of $300-$400. dollars. This includes water pressure which is low enough that it
takes 15-20 minutes to fill up our kitchen sink in order to do the dishes. We have stoppedwashing this way due to this issue. This has been far WORSE than our previous service with
charges MUCH HIGHER than ever before. Our homestead/farm is suffering and anotherincrease is simply unimaginable. A short time prior to the sale of the water system, I
purchased a Fodder System to help feed our livestock which worked very well. Our monthly water bill (as it had always been) was LESS THAN $40. per QUARTER (yes, $12. per
month). This cost of this fodder system (complete) was just under $10,000. and helped us on our farm to provide fresh barley grass for our livestock. We ran this system for 7 months prior
to the sale. After the sale and subsequent price increases, we were forced to completely remove the system from use (and is still off-line taking up storage space, unused), because our
water bill ballooned to $700.00 PER MONTH. We now have to purchase dry-bale grass feed for our livestock which not only causes us to be less self-sufficient, but increases our costs
immensely, considering these times that we are currently all living in. I have lived here, on this same land for the past 25 years and it is unfathomable to think that after having personally
PAID to have this system installed 25 years ago, to have costs skyrocket to an untenable amount and having our basic, monthly allotment reduced to 9,000 and again down to 8,000 cg
while supporting a homestead (we have never been municipal) is the simple and direct breaking of the American Family. Thank you for your time. "
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