LUCERNE — A request for help opposing a possible 21.3 percent water rate hike in Lucerne will go before the Lake County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
California Water Service Company (Cal Water) applied for the increase last year to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to cover corporate expenses for its 24 districts, according to a July 5, 2007 Cal Water press release.
The Lucerne Community Water Organization (LCWO) filed with CPUC as an intervener to fight the increase. The Lake County Redevelopment Agency is asking the board to adopt a resolution to oppose the rate hike, and submit it to the CPUC during hearings held Feb. 11 through 14.
“The rate increase in no way will increase the capacity or quality of the Lucerne water system, but rather would cover health care and employee welfare programs, general administration expenses and various costs and facilities that are common to all CWSC”s (Cal Water) numerous water districts across the state,” county administrative analyst Doug Willardson wrote in a Jan. 31 memo to the board.
The hike would bring an average bill up by almost $15, according to the July 2007 Cal Water press release. “Average” for Lucerne, by Cal Water”s estimate, is a consumer using 700 cubic feet, or 5,236 gallons of water per month.
“Generally, the process is that by end of procedure it (the application) goes through, the CPUC has reduced it by quite a bit. There”s no way of knowing what the outcome is going to be,” Gay Guidotti, acting local manager for the Cal Water”s Redwood Valley District, said. The Redwood Valley District includes Lucerne.
Lucerne is in Dist. 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing”s jurisdiction, and is home to LCWO and Friends of Locally Owned Water (FLOW). Rushing said FLOW is looking into the possibility of taking over Lucerne”s water system.
“There are certain things the county can and can”t do. Number one, we can provide whatever analytic support they need in terms of if they”re thinking of taking over the water system. Water is such a critical issue to the economic life of the town, and we can certainly help if they wish to intervene,” Rushing said.
Among the reasons cited in the resolution is a documentation of “millions of dollars of cost increases sought by CWSC (Cal Water) that are unjustified and unnecessary.” The documentation came in a Jan. 3 analysis of Cal Water”s application by the CPUC Division of Ratepayers Advocates (DRA).
“They”re (Cal Water) asking for 149 additional staff in their corporate office in San Jose,” DRA spokesman Raymond Charvez said Friday. Cal Water projects a total payroll expense of $23,665,100 for the next two years over which the hiring would take place, according to Charvez.
Charvez said Cal Water”s payroll projection was the most significant of other corporate expenses listed in the July 2007 application.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
