Fontana Water Company Water Rate Increase

Fontana Water Company
Water Rate Increase
2008 Update

2008 Water Rate Survey

2008 Documents

Background:
It has been 2 years since the California Public Utilities Commission held evidentiary hearings in the City of Fontana and up in San Francisco to debate the proposed General Rate Case application of the San Gabriel Valley Water Company – Fontana Division regarding Application No.-A0508021. This water Rate increase intervention process started back September 2005. The City of Fontana, Fontana Unified School District, and the Division of Ratepayer Advocates of the CPUC began to work on opposing the proposed water rate increase of the Fontana Water Company.

The Fontana Water Company who already has the highest rates in the surrounding area, they are almost 1.85 times greater (Water rate comparison 2008)

, has requested additional rate increases in the following years..

13.1% for 2006 equal to $5,662,900
6.3% for 2007 equal to $3,072,500
4.2% for 2008 equal to $2,196,000
Total Increase equaling 23.6% or $10,931,400

The City of Fontana and the FUSD asked for a re-hearing on the previous Water Rate Decision-04-07-034 on August 25, 2005. This request was granted and reviewed by the Administrative Law Judge Barnett. The outcome of the limited rehearing authorized by ALJ Barnett is summarized in the following paragraphs.

The Administrative Law Judge summarized the following:

The limited rehearing shall be consolidated with the next general rate case in 2005-(Current rate Case as of today).
The rehearing shall see if San Gabriel Valley Water has met its burden of proof requesting a rate increase.
San Gabriel is allowed to continue billing and collect rates ordered in previous decision and track in a memorandum account.
City of Fontana request for oral argument is denied.

These items are to be addressed as part of this current general rate case application. The City of Fontana has been expressly concerned over the length of time this water rate case has taken. It was initially believed that a decision would have been handed out by June of 2006. For unknown reasons this process has lingered on.

In fact the City of Fontana received a Draft Preliminary Decision from ALJ Barnett back in October 2006. The initial preliminary draft proved to be favorable to the ratepayers in providing some relief from the water company’s proposed increases. However, we received notice on January 29, 2007 that along with ALJ Barnett proposed decision that Commissioner Bohn (presiding Commissioner on this case) was proposing an alternate proposed decision. This alternate proposed decision was unexpected and significantly different. The differences in Commissioner Bohn’s alternate Decision favor the water company and give them an increase larger than they had asked for in the initial application.

Based on the comparison of these decision it becomes clear that the alternate proposed decision benefits the Fontana Water Company and if approved would increase its rates much higher than originally proposed. (See Proposed Decision

and Alternate Proposed Decision

).

On February 13, 2007, Mayor Mark Nuaimi released a Press advisory regarding suspiciously timed article about the Sandhill Water Treatment Plant upgrades reported in the Riverside Press Enterprise on February 5, 2007. This newspaper article also was used by a consultant to the Fontana Water Company (Mr. Tom Soto) to send to a CPUC Commissioner Gruenich. The City of Fontana found out about this and began inquiring about the impropriety of these actions. These would be considered improper Ex-Parte Communications and would appear create some positive influence for the Fontana Water Company’s rate case. The City of Fontana and FUSD immediately voiced concerns over this matter and notified its elected leadership in Sacramento. (Special Media Advisory

)(4.6MB) .

Relevant Documents for your review - (Require Adobe Acrobat Reader)
California Public Utilities Commission Complaint Information Here you can file a complaint against the company that provides yourwater service. To file a complaint by mail: California Public Utilities Commission Consumer Affairs Branch 505 Van Ness Ave. San Francisco, CA 94102-3298 Call toll-free, Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. at 1-800-649-7570 Fax: 1-415-703-1158 For all correspondence, please be sure to include: Your name and the name the account is billed under (if different) Service address Mailing address and phone number Name of the company you are complaining about Address and telephone number of the company (if applicable) The name of the company's representative you contacted (if applicable) Your utility account number (if applicable) A brief description of your complaint (please limit your complaint to two pages or less)
Rate Comparison - Fontana Water Company 2007 (17.8KB)	California Division of Ratepayer Advocates (will open in a new window)
Decision Rehearing Order (38KB)	Digest of differences between the Proposed Decision and the Alternate Proposed Decision (638KB)
Sun Newspaper Article 2/14/07 (987KB)	California Public Utilities Commission Proceeding A0508021 Date Filed: August 5, 2005 (will open in a new window)
Residents may write their Legislators to let them know of their displeasure over this water rate issue using the links below. If you are frustrated with the Fontana Water Company rates and would like to write your State Representatives the City of Fontana is providing you with a Draft letter you may mail or e-mail to your State Representatives. You may wish to write in your own words your thoughts on this matter. It is very important that the State Officials hear from you on this matter. We have linked up those e-mail addresses to this site for your ease of use.
Wilmer Amina Carter – Assembly member 62nd District Frances Choi and Robin Coaxum (Chief of Staff/Primary Office Contacts) Bill Emmerson – Assembly member 63rd District Joe Justin and Teresa Trujillo (Chief of Staff/Primary Office Contacts) Gloria Negrete-McLeod – State Senator 32nd District Don Wilcox (Chief of Staff) Bob Dutton – State Senator 31st District Russell Lowery (Chief of Staff)