Aqua Utilities to withdraw request for interim rate increase in...

No offense but isn't it a violation of the Statute for Legislators to interfere with or in the the decisions of the PSC . The Stature clearly states that the PSC shall function free of Legislative interference .Rep. Sandy Adams is in violation of the Statute . Breaking the law is breaking the law no matter what the intent . This Statute is in place to allow the PSC to make fair and unbiased decisions .

No company should find it appropriate to raise rates over 50%, let along 300%. The fact that Aqua seems to think their water is pure gold or oil and therefore worth that same price is an insult to Floridians. My water bill on months that I don't even water my lawn is already close to $200/mo. How much more should we pay for water we can't drink, can't give pets, can't bathe in, and can't use for beverages without boiling it first? My family reuses their towels 3 or 4 days between washes, we limit shower time, and rarely water the grass. There's not much left to do to conserve water and we sure can't afford another rate increase. Considering the fact that we have to add to the $200/mo bill our cost of a water filter and bottled water so we can actually drink something, it seems ridiculous that Aqua would even consider asking for a dime more. They should be voluntarily giving those of us in Chuluota a decrease in our billing. Thanks to everyone who came out to speak at our last meeting, we were able to beat this increase back once again.

Floridian wrote:

No company should find it appropriate to raise rates over 50%, let along 300%. The fact that Aqua seems to think their water is pure gold or oil and therefore worth that same price is an insult to Floridians. My water bill on months that I don't even water my lawn is already close to $200/mo. How much more should we pay for water we can't drink, can't give pets, can't bathe in, and can't use for beverages without boiling it first? My family reuses their towels 3 or 4 days between washes, we limit shower time, and rarely water the grass. There's not much left to do to conserve water and we sure can't afford another rate increase. Considering the fact that we have to add to the $200/mo bill our cost of a water filter and bottled water so we can actually drink something, it seems ridiculous that Aqua would even consider asking for a dime more. They should be voluntarily giving those of us in Chuluota a decrease in our billing. Thanks to everyone who came out to speak at our last meeting, we were able to beat this increase back once again.

How much do they charge for 1000 gallons roughly?

Get Real wrote:

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How much do they charge for 1000 gallons roughly?

Really, who uses only 1000 gallons of water. My lowest bill for 7000 gallons (family of 3) was just over $100.00. The largest part is the Base Fees, so to answer your question if somehow I managed to only use $1000 gallons I would pay about $45.00 , under the requested rates that would be about $90.00 for a thousand gallons. Keep in mind most of those costs are 'base charges' so effectivly the more water you use the cheaper your overall cost, per 1000 gallons would be. Not much incentive to conserve I know, but hey Aqua wants their money if you use water or not.

Dan wrote:

No offense but isn't it a violation of the Statute for Legislators to interfere with or in the the decisions of the PSC . The Stature clearly states that the PSC shall function free of Legislative interference .Rep. Sandy Adams is in violation of the Statute . Breaking the law is breaking the law no matter what the intent . This Statute is in place to allow the PSC to make fair and unbiased decisions .

Yet everytime I speak to the PSC they complain that the sate laws are tying their hands and allowing Aqua to get away with all this. So isn't it the state legislature that created this mess??? Overpriced, poisoned water with a 'we could care less about our customers' attitude.

They should be voluntarily giving those of us in Chuluota a decrease in our billing. Thanks to everyone who came out to speak at our last meeting, we were able to beat this increase back once again.

Funny you should mention decrease. When we first moved to Chuluota they (homebuilders) told us that as more people moved here the water prices would go down. HA! Silly me for buying that!

Get Real wrote:

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How much do they charge for 1000 gallons roughly?

Just checked my bill, I pay .00397 per gallon. My bill is not much more than $35-$40 dollars a month. They must pay more because they live in a new home.

Water does stink. I have used bottled water for 9 years.

Chuluota Resident wrote:

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Really, who uses only 1000 gallons of water. My lowest bill for 7000 gallons (family of 3) was just over $100.00. The largest part is the Base Fees, so to answer your question if somehow I managed to only use $1000 gallons I would pay about $45.00 , under the requested rates that would be about $90.00 for a thousand gallons. Keep in mind most of those costs are 'base charges' so effectivly the more water you use the cheaper your overall cost, per 1000 gallons would be. Not much incentive to conserve I know, but hey Aqua wants their money if you use water or not.

I asked for 1000 gallons just to get a base idea of comparison.$45.00 is high compared to other companies/cities. I live in Casselberry and don't pay anywhere near that.$45.00 for 2000 roughly I imagine.$90.00 for 1000 would be highway robbery.

Chuluotian wrote:

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Just checked my bill, I pay .00397 per gallon. My bill is not much more than $35-$40 dollars a month. They must pay more because they live in a new home.
Water does stink. I have used bottled water for 9 years.

In Casselberry, the water is fine. I have never had a problem with it. My laundry is fine, it smells fine, it tastes fine. I don't use a filter and I drink it. I love Casselberry and have no complaints about this city or any of its services.

Why would they have to pay more if they live in a new house? That doesn't sound fair.

My numbers include wastewater and include current base charges of (about)$35.00 and future (requested) base charges of about $75.00. Yep,$75.00 before you even use a drop of water. I believe some of the older homes only pay pay for water currently... Anyways the comparision I have made several times to the PSC is I pay about 2 - 3 times what I paid with seminole county water and I could drink that.

I live in Chuluota and I was at the PSC meeting last week and it seems Oviedo is ready to address this if aqua would sit down and talk reasonably about a purchase price.

Aqua really is a spectacular example of why we prevent monopolies in this country. The fact that we have to pay more for water does not particularly bother me if it has justification in the cost to produce the water. However, we have serious issues with accuracy of billing from this seemingly incompetent company, and have no recourse but to argue with company mouthpieces for hours about billing and rebilling.... only to finally have to pay to keep the water on because the company is so incompetent that they can't straighten out the bill in time to keep us on a decent paying schedule! Here is a sample of our "monthly usage pattern":
5000
5000
5000
37000
200000 !!! huh?
97000
175000 !!! what?
74000
22000

See a pattern? Me neither! Can you imagine anything but incompetence or downright deception being practiced here? I measure our current usage (family of 5) to be about 8000 gallons a month on the highest estimate based on my own meter reading. No we aren't great water conservers, but the company just can't get it right and doesn't seem to realize how ludicrous these measurements are.