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Utilities, Inc. Customers Write to the PSC - and Utilities Inc. Writes to Daily Yonder
“My wife keeps getting a (water) bill for a house we haven’t lived in for a year. After asking repeatedly, it doesn’t do any good. What do I have to do? Hire a lawyer?” wrote Clinton resident Thomas King.
King and other customers of Utilities, Inc. are writing their anger and concern to the Kentucky Public Service Commission. The company, headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, serves 9900 Kentucky customers in Middlesboro and Clinton, two cities hundreds of miles apart. The PSC currently has the rate request before it for an over 50% increase in water rates.
Middlesboro customer, Romell Johnson, filed a motion to intervene in the case. Johnson wrote, that if the rate increase is allowed, the city (of Middlesboro) will not be able to open the public pool this summer. Two industrial parks in Middlesboro will be unsuccessful in attracting new industry because a new industry looks at the cost of utilities. The Middlesboro School System has 69% of students on free lunch and the unemployment rate in Bell County is over 10%. Johnson Motion to Intervene
Middlesboro customer, Romell Johnson, filed a motion to intervene in the case. Johnson wrote, that if the rate increase is allowed, the city (of Middlesboro) will not be able to open the public pool this summer. Two industrial parks in Middlesboro will be unsuccessful in attracting new industry because a new industry looks at the cost of utilities. The Middlesboro School System has 69% of students on free lunch and the unemployment rate in Bell County is over 10%. Johnson Motion to Intervene
While the company, stung by allegations that they are connected to AIG (see Chief Operating Officer Lisa Sparrow’s post on DailyYonder.com ), answers its critics on the internet, local citizens are joining the fray by contacting the Kentucky Public Service Commission. Case No. 2008-00563
How important is this case to rate payers? Gentry Harris, age 81 of Clinton, wrote in his letter to the PSC:
“Many of the customers are retired, living on fixed incomes and cannot afford any increases in their living expenses. Many would have to make the decision: Is it bread or water this month? I ask you to make a decision that is fair to the citizens of Clinton.”