Midlands sewer customers feel ‘helpless’ about planned rate hike, regulators told
Teresa Heilman said more of her Irmo neighbors would have spoken out against a proposed increase in what they pay for sewer service, if they didn’t feel “hopeless and helpless.”
Heilman told state commissioners on Thursday she can take action to reduce her energy bill, cut back her water usage and shop for insurance policies. But she’s at a loss to know how to mitigate her sewer bill from Blue Granite Water Company, which has increased several times in the 27 years she’s lived in the New Friarsgate neighborhood.
“I could go out and buy water,” she said, “but I can’t have an outhouse in my neighborhood.”
Heilman spoke Thursday to a meeting of the S.C. Public Services Commission, which is reviewing a proposal by the private Blue Granite to boost rates by up to 56%.
Thursday’s hearing was one of the last opportunities for water and sewer customers to air their concerns publicly. The PSC will issue a ruling on the proposal by April 2.
The company serves around 30,000 customers in South Carolina, including dozens of neighborhoods in Richland and Lexington counties, plus several more communities in the Upstate.
Many customers who spoke Thursday used the opportunity to share broader complaints about the company. John Mallard of West Columbia said his billing had been “erratic,” and he was unable to get a satisfactory explanation for it. Kim Corrigan said a leak in her Spence’s Point community in Lexington County sent sewage pouring through her lakeside neighborhood and into Lake Murray, narrowly avoiding her swimming pool.
As a homeowner, Heilman said she worried about how frequent rate increases will affect her property value. The last rate increase from Blue Granite, she noted, came only in 2018.
“Are other people afraid to buy property because of a utility company?” she asked.
Thursday’s hearing comes near the end of a series the PSC has held around the state on the proposed rate hike. Blue Granite spokesman Reese Hannon said the hearing process has given the company a chance to gauge public concerns as well.
“It’s a good opportunity too to speak to customers about any issues they may have,” Hannon said.
Blue Granite has cited $23 million worth of infrastructure improvements the company has undertaken in recent years as necessitating higher rates, including connecting its Lake Wylie facility in York County to Charlotte’s water system and tying its Friarsgate treatment facility in Irmo in with the city of Columbia’s.
The proposed increase will also cover the cost of “new technology across the company to increase customer service and reliability,” a Blue Granite spokesman previously told The State.
But at one point, the company’s request to the S.C. Public Services Commission also cited the cost of moving its headquarters from West Columbia to Greenville as a justification for the increase, although that has been declined by the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff, the state government agency that advocates for utility customers.
The rate hike will mean rates for the average water customer would go up by 45%, while sewer rates would increase by 56%, according to state regulators. Rates for the company’s Midlands customers could go up by up to 55.4% for water service, The State previously reported.
Blue Granite was previously known as Carolina Water Service, the name it used when it was last approved for a rate increase in 2018. But Carolina Water was also cited by the state for releasing poorly treated sewage from its Friarsgate facility into the nearby Saluda River, which was blamed for increasing unsafe levels of bacteria in the popular recreational site. The company was fined $80,000 by the Department of Health and Environmental Control in 2017 for the release.
After a long-running dispute with the town of Lexington over another sewage treatment plant on the Saluda, the town eventually took over the plant for a court-ordered $7.25 million price tag.
BLUE GRANITE SYSTEMS IN THE MIDLANDS
Lexington County
▪ Water: Arrowhead/Lakewood Estates, Bellemede, Blue Ridge/Calvin/Heatherwood, Calvin Acres, Cambridge Hills, Charwood, Dutchman Acres, Dutchman Shores, Emma Terrace, Estates at Hilton, Falcon Ranches, Foxtrail, Glenn Village, Heatherwood, Hermitage, Hidden Valley Country Club, Hilton Place, Idlewood CWS, Indian Cove, Indian Pines, Lake Village, Lakewood Estates, Lexington Estates, Lexington Farms, Milmont Shores, Murray Lodge, Murray Park Estates, Oakwood, Parkwood, Peachtree Acres, Rollingwood/Silver Creek, Sangaree, Southland Cedarwood, Southland Creekwood, Sycamore Acres, Tanya Terrace, Vanarsdale, Westside Terrace, Windy Hill.
▪ Sewer: Glenn Village II/Stonebridge, Harbor Place/Windward Pointe, Harborside, Indian Fork/Forty Love, Mallard Cove, Rollingwood/Silver Creek, Smallwood Estates, The Landings, Watergate/Spence Pt.
▪ Water and sewer: Governors Grant, Kingston Harbour, Secret Cove.
Richland County
▪ Water: Charleswood, Dutch Village/Raintree Acres, Farrowood Estates, Hamon Hill Estates, Oakridge Hunt Club, Raintree Acres, Springfield Acres, Washington Heights.
▪ Sewer: Forty Love Point, Stonegate/Forty Love Point.
▪ Water and sewer: Ballentine Cove, Friarsgate/Ballentine Cove, North Lake Shore Point, Salem Church Rd., Shadowwood Cove.
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