Street Roots • Aug. 10-16, 2018
News
Page 5
i
WATER, from page 4
water systems charge 84 percent more than
public systems.
But even as privatized water expands in
states such as Illinois and New Jersey, it
decreased nationwide between 2007 and
2014. But privatization trends have become
more difficult to track since 2015, said Grant,
when the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency stopped making that data available. In
2014, 87 percent of the nation’s ratepayers
got their water from publicly owned utilities.
On Monday, Aug. 6, Baltimore City Council
voted unanimously to ban water privatization.
The amendment to the city’s charter will go
before voters this November, positioning
Baltimore to become the first large city in the
nation to prohibit the sale or lease of its
water and sewer systems. This move came
after multiple water companies expressed
interest in purchasing the city’s system.
When mass water shutoffs m Flint and
Detroit, Mich., made national headlines, the
public knew the number of people who’d lost
access to water because
the utility was public.
Grant said it’s unknown
"Subsequent private company
how many people lose
management doesn^t always
access to water because
deliver ©a promised east
of
non-payment when the
savings because Site llnm teing
company shutting off
©I Ireqaeatly-aeeled
their
services is
Infrastructure improvements
private.
can be more expensive lo r
“We’ve requested
private compared to public
information from them,
u tilitie s ,"
we’ve filed information
JANICE TH O M PSO N
CUB A D V O C A C Y DIRECTOR
act requests but they’re
not subject to the
information act
requests,” Grant said.
“They’re not talking to
us, they’re not telling us how many people
they shut off. And they’re an investor-owned
utility - they don’t have to.”
One of Food and Water Watch’s biggest
concerns, Grant said, is the revolving door
between regulators and the private water
industry. For example, before becoming the
head of the National Association of Water
Companies, the industry’s trade association,
Robert Powelson was the head of the ,
National Association of Regulatory Utility
O
Less than 5%
Public
C 3 5-15%
15-25%
Private
$600
$569
$ 51 1
$501
$500
$452
'$433
$400
$356
$305 I
$313
$316
$289 I
$300
$200
$100
Midwest
Northeast
South
West
National
From "The State of Public Water in The United States," a 2016 report from Food and Water Watch
Commissioners - the industry’s regulators.
“These big companies, they have
said, “a private water company can offer an
inflated purchase price to a local government,
relationships with regulators, and they often
seek to change state regulations that make it
''eastfcFto ritcfease rates on consumers,” she
said. And that’s happened in states like New
Jersey - where 40 percent of residents live in
which entices the government to sell, but
then they also can automatically add that to
districts where the water utility has been
privatized, and private water companies
charge 79 percent more than public water
utilities.
Grant said one piece of legislation making
its way through state legislatures removes
regulator oversight of water company
purchase prices. In Oregon, this hasn’t
happened, and the state’s Public Utility
Commission is overseeing that detail of NW
Natural’s acquisition of Salmon Valley Water.
But in states where this law has been
passed, such as Indiana and California, Grant
ation (20
er ship of Cernir unity V/a
I
25-35%
More than 35%
Alaska
H awaii
«
From "The State of Public Water in The United States," a 2016 report from Food and Water Watch
theirrate basest««-»
Grant said that in some cases, lawmakers
might not realize what they’re signing off on
when they pass legislation introduced on
behalf of private water companies. “There is
some really wonky legislation,” she said.
In Oregon, investor-owned utilities can’t
raise rates without going through a public
process overseen by the state’s Public Utility
Commission. It will step in and regulate a
water utility if it serves more than 500
customers or if its rates exceed certain
thresholds.
“They can’t charge more than it costs them
to provide service,” said Bruce Hellebuyck, a
water program manager at the commission.
An investor-owned company has to make a
return on its investments, and those returns
are also calculated into the rates customers
pay, he said. The percentage of the return is
determined on a case-by-case basis.
The state commission regulates the rates
and services of 32 Oregon water companies,
and regulates the service but not the rates of
about 40 more.Its system is complaint
driven, and customers can file grievances
through its Consumer Services Division.
Combined, Oregon’s regulated private
water companies serve just 32,000
customers, Hellebuyck said.
When a regulated water company wants to
raise its rates or change ownership, the
commission investigates and its three
governor-appointed commissioners either
approve or deny the request If it’s a sale,
commissioners will approve it if it will not
make services worse, or otherwise harm
customers, and if it’s a rate increase that’s
been requested, commissioners will approve
it if it can be justified.
A vote on NW Natural’s acquisition of
Salmon Valley Water Company has not yet
been scheduled.