Seminole County

Residents were bracing to see their rates almost double

commissioners will launch a court challenge to the Public Service Commission’s recent approval of drastic water and wastewater rate increases for tens of thousands of Central Florida homeowners.

Seminole County commissioners voted Tuesday to mount a court challenge to the Public Service Commission’s recent approval of drastic water and wastewater rate increases for tens of thousands of Central Florida homeowners.

County attorneys pointed to a state law that says the Public Service Commission shall “fix rates which are just, reasonable, compensatory, and not unfairly discriminatory.”

“It’s clear that it’s not reasonable,” Seminole Commissioner Lee Constantine said about the dramatic rate increase by Utilities Inc. of Florida scheduled to go into effect in coming weeks.

“I’m very strongly in favor in pursuing this action,” he said before joining three other county commissioners in voting to file the appeal.

Chuck Scales, president of the Sweetwater Oaks homeowners association, a west Seminole neighborhood of nearly 1,400 homes, applauded the move by commissioners to appeal the Aug. 3 decision by state regulators.

“I don’t think you’ll find too many people who are in favor of this rate increase,” he said. “I was disappointed that the Public Service Commission did not listen to the people. … They’re supposed to be there for the consumers, but it was one of those things where they already had their minds made up.”

The Public Service Commission’s four-member board unanimously approved a request by Utilities Inc. to nearly double water and wastewater rates, despite objections filed by Seminole County.

At a public hearing at the Eastmonte Civic Center in Altamonte Springs in February, hundreds of residents turned out to voice their opposition to the rate increase before Public Service Commission board members.

Utilities Inc. officials argued that the rate increase is the result of the company combining its various rates into one rate across the state after merging its 12 subsidiaries into a single entity last year.

Customers who live mostly in west Seminole and have Utilities Inc. of Sanlando — which includes about 10,000 customers in the Wekiva, Sweetwater Please turn to APPEAL, B2