20221219Comment(1)_1.pdf

From:PUCWeb Notification
To:Jan Noriyuki
Subject:Notice: A comment was submitted to PUCWeb
Date:Saturday, December 17, 2022 10:00:06 AM
The following comment was submitted via PUCWeb:
Name: Don Thompson
Submission Time: Dec 17 2022 9:00AMEmail: [e-mail]
Telephone: [phone]Address: 4775 Troy
Coeur d'Alene, ID 83815
Name of Utility Company: Gem State Water Company of Oregon
Case ID: GSW-W-22-01
Comment: "It would appear that the current owner, Gem State, either paid way too much for the water district, or they are incredibly greedy. Have we gotten any more for the increases
they propose? No. There is no backup power for the well. There is no backup pump for the well. Any power outage results in a water outage. Even with accounting for President Biden's
war on fossil fuel causing very high, record inflation, Gem State is taking this to an extreme level. A base rate increase of above 27% would not be outrageous if it were not for the
allocation reduction from 20,000 gallons to 10,000 gallons and the usage fee increasing from$1.12 per thousand gallons to $4.15 per thousand gallons. With overall inflation by Biden
running about 14%, that would directly relate to increases of the base rate to $31.35. The same inflation number increases the per 1000 gallon rate from $1.12 to $1.28 It would appear an out
of state interest believes our aquifer is some how limited and that "someone" is increasing their cost to pump our water! Baloney! Gem State's greed is the only explanation for such
egregious rate increases. I'm not privileged to know or be able to know the internal workings of a company apparently acquiring as many small water districts as they can leverage. If they
need these sorts of increases to justify their purchase, consider they should not have made the purchase. I nor my neighbors should be burdened by bad business decisions, specifically
paying too much or not investing but rather leveraging for their own benefit. Clearly these increases are only in that companies benefit without any new benefit coming through to
customers. Please stop these increases. Advise them to dis-invest and go back to Oregon."
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