Company makes it official: Rate hike of 23% sought
Ocean County Board of Freeholders adds its voice to objectors
BY TOYNETT HALL Staff Writer
As expected, the New Jersey American Water Company filed an application with the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) on Jan. 14 to increase its water rates by 23.35 percent.

Even though the water company has applied for the rate increase, the BPU commissioners will have the ultimate say as to what the amount of the rate increase, if any, will be.

The New JerseyAmericanWater Company serves more than two million customers throughout New Jersey.

A typical customer currently pays $43.90 a month for 7,000 gallons of water. If the BPU grants the full increase at 23.35 percent that customer would pay $53.90 per month for the same amount, according to a statement from Lendel Jones, the company's vice president of corporate communications and governmental affairs.

"Even with this increase water is still under one penny per gallon," Jones said.

The current proposed increase has already drawn criticism from HowellMayor Joseph DiBella and last week the Ocean County Board of Freeholders added its voice to the objectors.

In a letter to DiBella, New Jersey American said, "the proposed rate increase comes as a result of the company's effort to invest a substantial level of capital to upgrade facilities statewide while absorbing increased chemical and energy costs. The proposed rate adjustment will reflect the substantial investment in infrastructure the company continues to make in order to provide high quality, reliable water service to over two million residents throughout the state."

According to a press release from the Ocean County freeholders, New Jersey American, which serves Bay Head, Mantoloking, Plumsted, Lakewood and portions of Brick, Toms River and Lavallette, is requesting its second double-digit rate hike in less than a year.

"This is totally unacceptable," Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari said. "It was only lastMarch that the BPU allowed the water company to raise rates by nearly 14 percent."

Vicari and Freeholder Gerry P. Little have sent a letter to BPU President Jeanne M. Fox requesting that the latest rate hike be denied, according to the press release.

"We strongly feel that this second increase would place a severe burden on the residents who depend on this company for their water supply," Vicari and Little said in the letter.

The freeholders noted that if the increase is approved, New Jersey American's rates would rise by 33.5 percent in less than two years, or nearly eight times the rate of inflation.

"With the economy in a general decline and the threat of a recession looming, we feel that the utility's 20 percent requested increase could not come at a worse time," Vicari and Little said in the letter to Fox. "It is also extremely troubling to us that the utility would request such a significant increase less than a year after it was granted a double-digit rate hike."

The freeholders sent a similar letter to State Rate Counsel Stefanie A. Brand, asking her to oppose the increase. The review process before the BPU is expected to take between eight and 15 months, according to the press release.