NC legislators demand answers to dramatic proposed spikes in Lake Norman water bills
Two state legislators from Mooresville are demanding answers to proposed rate spikes by a private water provider at Lake Norman.
In a Jan. 9 letter, State Sen. Vickie Sawyer and State Rep. Grey Mills asked the North Carolina Utilities Commission to delay ruling on the increases requested by Carolina Water Service of North Carolina.
“A significant number of homeowners and homeowners’ associations (HOAs) across the state have expressed significant concern regarding past rate increases and other issues, such as water quality,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Charlotte Observer.
200% return deemed ‘inordinate’
Carolina Water Service, for instance, pays $3.72 per thousand gallons of water bought from the town of Mooresville, while the company wants to charge homeowners $14.71 per thousand gallons, Sawyer and Mills wrote.
That’s a return of about 200%, which the HOAS and their residents find “inordinate,” according to the letter.
Carolina Water Service has proposed an increase of about 29% over 2023, 2024 and 2025, the Observer previously reported.
That’s on top of a 41.6% increase in April 2022, residents told the Observer.
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Those affected include residents of the Point, the Farms, and Harbour at the Point subdivisions on the lake, according to the letter.
The presidents of those HOAs wrote Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday with their concerns, according to a copy of that letter obtained by the Observer.
‘Pressing need’ to improve water system
In a letter to customers, senior vice president Don Denton blamed the proposed increases largely on “a pressing need to invest more than $110 million” in its water and wastewater systems, the Observer previously reported. Increased service costs also are to blame, Denton said.
“While we recognize there is never a good time to ask customers to pay more for a product or service, the proposed rate increase is essential to the company’s ability to deliver safe and reliable water and wastewater services,” Denton wrote.
Ruling deadline
Public witness hearings in the case were held in October and an expert witness hearing after Thanksgiving, commission general counsel Sam Watson told the Observer on Tuesday.
By law, the North Carolina Utilities Commission must issue a final ruling in the rate case by April 27, “although an order might be issued before that date,” Watson said.
In a Jan. 10 email to Mason Barefoot, Mills’ legislative assistant, Watson said the legislators’ letter reiterated issues raised by customers and was “placed in the docket system together with the other comments received in the current rate case.”
The commission extended the deadline for proposed orders and briefs by parties in the case to Tuesday, Jan. 31, Watson told the Observer.
