Some water customers in the Metropolitan District Commission’s member towns recently opened up their monthly bills to find charges went up, on average, by seven and a half percent.
The price hike comes at the same time as lawmakers try to add oversight to what is a largely unregulated utility.
West Hartford resident Judy Allen supports HB 6008, the bill to add oversight, as she has noticed her utility bills going up while her income stays the same.
“As somebody on a fixed income, it is very stressful not being able to predict what’s going to happen to your bill year to year, (and) what kind of increase are going to happen,” said Allen.
In 2016, households paid $2.66 per CCF, a unit of measurement representing 748 gallons.
This year, that went up to $2.77.
However, that just makes up roughly one third of the overall bill. The majority of the cost comes from the MDC’s Clean Water Project charge, which increased by 7.7 percent.
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The rest is a fixed service charge. That went up from $13.48 to $14.98.
If the trend continues, upset customers may soon have an advocate.
“We’re going to make sure that people have ample opportunity to have their voices heard,” said State Representative Derek Slap, of West Hartford.
He introduced HB 6008, which would create an independent consumer advocate who would report to member towns four times a year, hold public hearings every October, and cannot be fired nor punished by the MDC.
“We want consumers to know that this position and this person is going to have consumers’ backs before anything else, first and foremost,” said Rep. Slap.
The other issue: The City of Hartford has warned it may not be capable of paying some future bills.
“If you are a legislator from one of these member towns, you are hearing, mostly likely, from your constituents, ‘You better make sure if Hartford or another town can’t pay its bill, that we don’t get stuck holding the bag,’” said Rep. Slap. “And this is going to prevent that from happening.”
The bill passed through the House unanimously on April 19. If it goes through the Senate, it will take effect late 2017 under the Office of Consumer Counsel.
“I expect to have a close communication with the advocate because I have a lot of concerns about the way our water company works, and the way consumers are represented,” said Allen.
The MDC says it does support the bill, despite initial push back citing legal and ethical issues.
The MDC will also pay for the consumer advocate, $70,000 the first year, and $50,000 every year after that.
