Proposed water rate hike delayed by PUC: The PUC voted to investigate whether York Water Co. increasing bills is warranted.

Jun 25, 2008 (York Daily Record - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- YORW | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- York Water Co. bills will not go up July 15 after the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted Tuesday to investigate whether a proposed rate hike is warranted.

Both sides expected the move.

The commission met Tuesday and voted to delay the rate hikes for both the York Water Co. and the Superior Water Co. of eastern Pennsylvania, according to a PUC news release.

The cases have been assigned to an administrative law judge. Public hearings will help decide how much, if any, of the proposed rate hikes go into effect.

Denise DiNunzio, spokeswoman for the PUC, said the process usually takes about seven months.

Nearly all rate-hike proposals are delayed and investigated, she said.

Jeffrey Hines, president and CEO of the York Water Co., could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Hines said when the rate-hike proposal came out that the approval process is like a back-and-forth negotiation, so he expected the rate hike to be delayed.

The York Water Co. said in May that residential customers would pay about $6.35 more per month under its proposal, which would have gone into effect July 15.

Commercial customers would pay about $27.62 more per month, and industrial customers would pay about $104.52 more per month.

The company listed infrastructure upgrades -- $41 million was spent since the last rate increase request in 2006 -- and electricity and chemical costs as reasons for the increases.

PROPOSED HIKE

The

proposed water rate hike, which was delayed by the PUC Tuesday, would cause the following

increases:

Residential customers

$6.35 per month

Commercial customers

$27.62 per month

Industrial customers

$104.52 per month

bburkey@ydr.com; 771-2035

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