Residents oppose 90% sewer rate hike
LIMERICK » Opposition to Aqua Pennsylvania’s request for a sewer rate hike of nearly 90 percent is growing among the company’s Limerick customers.
Objections have been raised before the board of township supervisors, for their role in selling the system to Aqua three years ago, and to the Public Utility Commission, which must ultimately approve the increase, some fraction of it, or reject it completely.
Those objections are coming from individual residents, state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist., as well as in the form of petitions and letters from developments within the township.
The Montgomery Brook Condominium Association, representing 396 units amid 25 buildings submitted a letter calling the increases “totally unacceptable.”
The letter notes that the association’s annual sewer bill would increase from $145,000 a year to $255,000.
“This increase is extreme and in no way commensurate with inflation or other cost-of-living increases or any repairs or upgrading necessary to the system,” the letter reads.
Opposition has also arisen from 85 residents of the 50-plus community William Penn Villas off Neiffer Road. They signed a petition that notes “even though we realize they are entitled to a rate increase, we feel that almost a 90
“It is unimaginable that the cost of providing sewer service — through an already wellmaintained system — to Limerick Township residents has more than doubled in those three years.” — State Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist.
“This increase is extreme and in no way commensurate with inflation or other costof-living increases or any repairs or upgrading necessary to the system.”
— Montgomery Brook Condominium Association
percent increase is both an unreasonable request and also will be a hardship for many people who are on a fixed income.”
Ciresi agrees.
“This astronomical rate increase would pose a significant burden on a public either still dealing with or recovering from the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and would be particularly punishing on our many senior citizens who live on fixed incomes,” Ciresi wrote.
“The proposed rate increase is the first opportunity Aqua Pennsylvania has had to raise the rates as fees had been frozen for the first three years as part of the agreement between Limerick Township and Aqua Pennsylvania at the time of sale in 2018,” Ciresi wrote.
“When Aqua Pennsylvania purchased the sewer system from Limerick Township in 2018, the president of the utility had called the Limerick sewer system ‘compliant and well-maintained.’ How is it that a well-maintained sewer system would now require a doubling of service rates?” Ciresi asked.
“It is unimaginable that the cost of providing sewer service — through an already well-maintained system — to Limerick Township residents has more than doubled in those three years,” wrote Ciresi.
Preston Luitweiler, a frequent commenter at township meetings, supervisor candidate in 2019, and a retired environmental engineer who used to work for Aqua, agrees with Ciresi.
“It is my understanding that the Limerick Township sewer system was run well by an authority and was in good shape,” he wrote in an email to MediaNews Group.
But he believes more than just the company is to blame.
“The township dissolved the sewer authority, took over the system and then sold it to Aqua. The township got a $75 million windfall that they claim will be used to avoid future tax increases. For many sewer customers, any tax savings will be far outstripped by the increase in sewer rates,” Luitweiler wrote.
During the Sept. 7 Limerick supervisors’ meeting, Luitweiler said the way the township characterized the deal to sell the sewer system was “intellectually dishonest.”
Calling it a “shell game,” the retired engineer said sewer customer bills will go up so supervisors can pat themselves on the back for not raising taxes, and undertaking capital projects that benefit all taxpayers, even though the financial burden is being borne only by the sewer customers.
“Now the supervisors can spend freely without any tax consequences while my sewer bill goes up,” Lutweiler said.
In his email to MediaNews Group, Luitweiler wrote “I used to live in Lower Providence and Upper Providence, and in both places the sewer rates were reasonable compared to what is being proposed for Limerick. I did a little research on sewer rates in neighboring communities.” According to Luitweiler: • The rate for Perkiomen Township is a flat $65/quarter per (equivalent dwelling unit. That is $21.67/month, regardless of the volume of water used.
• The rate for Upper Providence is a flat $75/ quarter per EDU. That is $25/month, regardless of the volume of water used.
• The rate for Collegeville and Trappe is $6.85/1000 gallons. That would come to $26.03/month for the 3,800 gallon monthly usage used by Aqua in their rate notice.
At the Sept. 7 supervisors’ meeting, June Landis said the township meeting three years ago at which the sale of the sewer system was finalized was the first one she ever attended and the audience was told that sewer rates “would not increase for several years.”
“This deal was presented as such a good deal for the township, but it doesn’t feel like that to me,” Landis told the Limerick supervisors.
She said Limerick supervisors “saw golden opportunity to get a fast nest egg, without justifying a need or have much discussion. I feel like I’m paying for the sewer plant all over again.”
The supervisors did not respond to Landis or Luitweiler at the Sept. 7 meeting but township manager Dan Kerr did defend the township’s decision to sell last month when he replied to a MediaNews Group query.
“Our business strategy for selling is holding steady and still shows that these sewer rate increases
will be less to our residents than they would have had to pay if the township kept the sewer system,” Kerry wrote.
“This includes tax increases that were planned to support the townshipwide capital program that was needed across many service operations” but made unnecessary thanks to the money from the sale of the sewer system, Kerr wrote.
The proposed rate increase is no surprise to those familiar with the details of the sale. Contingent upon the township’s sale to Aqua was a rate freeze for three years, a freeze that expires in September.
As The Mercury reported three years ago, “the current average monthly rate of $38 could jump to $70 when the rate freeze enacted as a condition of the sale expires, according to documents filed as the sale was being considered by the Public Utility Commission.”
Rate hikes in Limerick driven by the company’s need to make back the money it paid for Limerick’s system were among the objections to the sale filed by Pennsylvania’s Office of Consumer Advocate.
The sale of the Limerick system was also opposed by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement and even Andrew Place, the Vice Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, who was replaced in 2018 and who wrote a
dissent of the PUC’s affirmative vote to approve for the sale.
Place wrote that Aqua’s own projections showed the company would need to increase rates by $4.5 million on Limerick customers over the next 10 years, or 104 percent, to make its money back.
Aqua’s most recent filing with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission was made on Aug. 20 and the announcement makes no mention of the purchase of the Limerick sewer system, saying instead that the rate increase is needed for “the recovery of $1.1 billion the company has prudently spent to upgrade its distribution and treatment systems.”
The rate hike proposal is part of a statewide rate hike for both public water and public sewer systems owned by the private company.
The company announcement also notes that “the average monthly residential wastewater bill would increase from $55.51 to $73.95” — or roughly 33 percent.
Any new base rates set by the PUC for either water or sewer would not be effective until 2022.
But according to a letter received by Aqua customers in Limerick, should the full rate hike be approved by the PUC, residential customers in Limerick would see their bills climb by much more — 89.6 percent, from $37.59 per month to $71.27 for those using 3,800 gallons per month — more than $400 per year.
Commercial customers would see a 72.9 percent hike if the request is approved. For those using 5,800 gallons per month, the rate would mean an increase from $50.90 to $80 per month — an annual increase of nearly $350.
“Our proposed increase is consistent with the agreement between Aqua and Limerick as a condition of our acquiring the wastewater system,” Aqua President Marc Lucca said in a statement sent to MediaNews Group last month.
“Our statewide request for new rates is based on capital improvements and expenses to operate treatment plants and distribution and collection systems across Pennsylvania, including the Limerick wastewater system,” according to Lucca.
Customers who wish to object to the rate hike request can send their objections in a letter to the PUC at Box 3265, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3265, according to the letter Aqua sent to Limerick customers.
Customers of other local sewer systems may face similar issues as a result of a wave of privatization of public utilities in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania American Water recently purchased the sewer system in Exeter for $93.5 million and in Royersford for $13 million and is awaiting PUC approval for a $13.7 million purchase of the Upper Pottsgrove sewer system.