NATCHEZ, Miss. – State utility regulators Tuesday denied rate increases requested by the water company that operates a system in Adams County along with more than 120 other water providers in Mississippi.
The Mississippi Public Service Commission’s 2-1 vote to reject Great River Utility’s rate-hike plans came as the PSC has been flooded by water consumers’ complaints about increased charges and poor service.
“They’re being hammered, and it’s just not right,” said state Public Service Commissioner Wayne Carr, who referred to Adams County constituents alarmed by how high their water bills have gone up this past year.
Great River began serving 280 or so Adams County households when it bought the Oakland water system in 2021 from David Huber.
Huber was among the disgruntled customers who addressed the PSC at a December hearing concerning Great River’s plans. He noted then that his monthly water bills increased last year from about $50 to $108, as they have for other customers in Natchez-Adams County’s Morgantown area.
The $108 a month is a flat rate charged to all households regardless of the amount of water used. Great River representatives have said this will eventually be converted back to a metered system where bills are based on usage.
Convening Tuesday for their monthly meeting, Carr was joined by PSC Chairman Chris Brown in denying Great River’s rate-increase plans, which included a schedule for future amounts to charge. De’Keither Stamps dissented. Carr and Brown are Republicans. Stamps is a Democrat.
Great River can appeal the PSC’s decision in court after having its requested water-rate schedules turned down, or it can accept the decision and retain the water charges as they were in January 2024 prior to increases implemented last August, according to what attorneys told the PSC.
If the utility-rate case goes to court – which Stamps said is most likely – the current water charges paid now by Great River ratepayers would remain as is. This would be pending any rulings that could eventually be made by the Mississippi Supreme Court. Customers would get rebates if Great River ultimately loses its case.
In justifying the increase on water bills, Great River representatives have said the company since 2021 has acquired many distressed water systems in Mississippi that require millions of dollars to fix.
Carr, Brown and Stamps last month completed their first year in office after two of them unseated PSC incumbents in the 2023 elections. They said the previous public service commissioners’ decisions and a lack of information made it difficult to consider Great River’s rate case, which was filed nearly a year ago.
“We’ve been pushed back into a corner by previous decisions made before we came here,” Carr said.
The PSC’s discussions and vote on Great River’s plan were live-streamed via the commission’s website.
Great River Utility Operating Co. has water-service areas in Adams and 16 other Mississippi counties, such as Claiborne, Warren, Hinds, DeSoto, Lowndes, Forrest and Harrison.
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