PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF WEST VI'RGINIA CHARLESTON PROCEDURE. required to satisfy said complaint or make answer thereto, in writing,

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1 _ PUBLC SERVCE COMMSSON OF WEST V'RGNA CHARLESTON At a sesson of the PUBLC SERVCE COMMSSON OF WEST VRGNA, at the Captol n the Cty of Charleston on the 24th day of March, CASE NO ELBERT PTT, G. 8, vs. Complanant, UNTED WATER SERVCE CORPORATON, a corporaton, Defendant. PROCEDURE On June 18, 1975, Elbert Ptt fled a formal complant, duly verfed, aganst Unted Water Servce Corporaton (Corporaton), a corporaton. By order entered on June 18, 1975, Corporaton was requred to satsfy sad complant or make answer thereto, n wrtng, wthn ten (10) days of the servce upon t by Certfed Mal of a co;oy of sad complant and a copy of sad order n accordance wth the provsons of Rule 7 of the Rules of Practce - and Procedure before ths Commsson. On Ju:e 25, 1975, Corporaton fled ts answer. By subsequent order of the Commsson dated July 28, 1975, the matters nvolved n the complant were set for hearng to be held on October 5, hearng was held as scheduled. At the hearng, Elbert Ptt, the complanant, testfed that only he and eght other customers of the defendant utlty were metered n ther communty of ffty-four customers. remanng customers could use unlmted amounts of water and pay a flat rate of $4.20 monthly. complanant felt that the utlty, by chargng metered and unmetered rates, was dscrmnatng aganst metered customers. Further evdence revealed that sxty per cent (or 210) of the entre system's 348 customers were metered. defendant clamed that t would be fnancally mpossble to mmedately meter all of ts customers. t further contended that t was meterng as quckly as

2 -_--_ ~.. ~ - -_ " Addtonally, the complanant requested that hs water meter be relocated, and postoned n complance wth Rule 36, Rules and -~ Regulatons for Government of Water Utl-tes. As a result of that hearng the Commsson ordered the defendant to (1) mmedately ntate any and all actons necessary to meter all of ts customers wthn a fve year perod; (2) submt monthly reports to the Commsson's Dvson of Engneerng statng all actons taken to comply wth the Commsson's order and an estmate of remanng tme necessary to fully comply; and (3) to move the water meter of the. - - complanant wthn thrty (30) days of the date of that order. Commsson further ordered the Dvson of Engneerng to mmedately report any acton or nacton by Co:lcporaton nconsstent wth ts order. Subsequently, on January 26, 1976, the complanant, Elbert Ptt fled a petton for rehearng or reargument after decson. pettoner requested that the Commsson's order entered n ths matter on January 12, 1976, be vacated and reversed or n the alternatve, the case be reopened and set for further hearng, at whch tme the compl.anant would present certan addtonal evdence n support of hs allegatons. Commsson found that the matter should be reopened and t was ordered that the evdentary record n ths case be reopened and a further hearng was held on February 17, complanant ap- peared n person. defendant was not: present. Mr. Harry W. Ptts, of the Cornmsson's Dvson of Engneerng testfed for Staf E. NEW EVDENCE complanant, Elbert Ptt, felt that the Commsson's pror dsposton of ths complant proceedng allowed undue dscrmnaton to contnue. Plost of the testmony presented was a repetton of the \evdence prevously consdered by ths Commsson n ths proceedng. However, Harry W. Ptts, Drector of the Commsson's Dvson of Engneerng ntroduced newly dscovered evdence arsng from a recent nvestgaton ntated n an attempt to enable the Commsson to be more responsve to problems assocated wth small water utltes..-" ll_l_." _L-.-. ^_.- -." ~.._. l_-l PUBLC SERVCE COMMlS81ON OF WEST VRGNA CHARLEBTON He test- l l. _.-. 1

3 ~ _ fed that some large meter manufacturers have a rental-purchase arrange- ment avalable to water utltes, whch may not be able to rase the captal requred for major meterng projects. Mr. Ptt's testmony ndcated that ths would reduce the $20,000 prevously thought necessar] to completely meter the defendantfssystem to an amount between $3,510 an( $11,700. Fnancal nsttutons have ndcated that a loan applcaton from ths utlty would be consdered f rate relef suffcent to allow repayment of any loan granted was obtaned. By takng admnstratve notce of ts own records, the Com- msson determned that on March 3, 1976, the defendant utlty fled an applcaton to ncrease ts flat rate from $4.20 per month to $11.25 per month. COMMENTS -_~- Wthout commentng upon t.he merts of the rate applcaton, t appears that the defendant corporatonsmakng an attempt to place tself n a fnancal poston whch wll enable t to comply wth ths Commsson's prevous order. n that order, the Commsson has attemptec to propose a soluton whch would be satsfactory to all partes con- cerned. However, the complanant hssts that the Commsson's prevous order would allow undue dscrmnaton to contnue for fve more years. complanant dd not share the Commsson's concern over the obvous paradox created by smultaneously deprvng corporaton of metered revenues and requrng t to mmedately undertake a captal expanson project. n ts order dated January 12, 1976, the Commsson balanced the equtes n a problematcal stuaton complcated by statutory constrants whch prohbt the grantng of rate relef n the dspo- ston of a complant case. Wth the passage of tme, the prorty of these competng equtes have shf.ted. Wth the flng of the March 197f rate proceedng and the dscovery of the avalablty of meter rental- purchase arrangements, the Commsson may now grant the relef sought by the compla,nant. Ths s not to say that the Commsson has changed ts poston. t merely ndcates that the threat of wdespread nterrupt l._,_l.._.._.. l_l.l PlJBLlC SERVCE COMMSSON OF WEST VRGNA CHAR.EBTON l_l_.. -_l _-.._._

4 ~ the ~ of servce created by deprvaton oe essental revenues has lessened, and the threat of undue dscrmnaton has ncreased. Whenever a bossble threat becomes a probablty, the Commsson wll act to protect publc nterest. publc nterest to be protected now s freedor 1 from unduly dscrmnatory rate structures. publc nterest, protected by the Commsson's prevous order was the health and welfare 'of the consumers of a vtal utlty whose contnued exstence would have been threatened by the mposton of prolonged fnancal sanctons. --- FNDNGS Commsson s of the opnon and fnds that: 1 j 1. Contnued applcaton of a metered rate to 60% of the defendant'scustomers wll result n undue dscrmnaton, when the flat rate s substantally less than the metered rate for the average house- hold's consumpton. 2. None of the defendant's customers should pay n excess of the monthly flat rate pendng fnal dsposton of the rate case currently before the Commsson. 3. defendant should nvestgate the avalablty of metel rental-purchase arrangements, and report to the Commsson the results of that nvestgaton durng the presentaton of ts rate case. 4. defendant should contnue to fle monthly progress reports wth the Commsson's Dvj-son of Engneerng as t proceeds wth ts meterng program. 5. defendant should complete the meterng of al.1 of ts customers as quckly as may be reasonably expected. 6. provson of the Commsson's prevous order remans n full force and effect as t apples to the movng of the complanant' meter. ORDER defendant, Unted Water Servce Corporaton, s hereby ordered to cease chargng the metered rates for water servce for an) consumpton exceedng 2,500 gallons durng any one bllng perod. flat rate wll be appled to all customers whose monthly consumpton ha:: exceeded 2,500 gallons. F'lJB.JC SERVCE COMMSSON OF WEST VlKGlNlA CHARLESTON

5 2. defendant shall nvestgate the avalablty of meter rental-purchase arrangements and report to the Commsson the results of that nvestgaton durng the presentaton of ts pendng rate case. 3. defendant shall contnue to fle monthly progress reports wth the Commsson's Dvson of Engneerng as t proceeds wt1 :t;s meterng program. 4. defendant shall complete the meterng of all of ts customers as quckly as may be reasonably accomplshed. 5. Commsson's prevous order as t apples to the movn! of the complanant's water meter remans n full force and effect. C A R P A N CT0:wr 5.