SC water service will raise rates even after regulators denied its plan
Some Midlands water customers will see their bills go up next month, even after a lengthy fight over a local water company’s plans to raise rates.
Blue Granite Water Co. will implement the hike beginning Sept. 1 while the company appeals a decision by the Public Service Commission to turn down its application for a rate increase earlier this year.
The average water bill will increase between 18% to 36% depending on a customer’s service area, plus a 35% residential sewer rate increase, according to a notice sent out by the company. That’s compared to a 12% to 23% increase for water and a 24% increase for sewer that commissioners approved back in April.
The new rates will be in effect while Blue Granite appeals that decision. If a court ultimately rejects that appeal, customers will be refunded the increase plus 12%, a Blue Granite spokesperson said.
Blue Granite serves 30,000 customers across the state, including several communities in Lexington and Richland counties, as well as communities near Rock Hill in York County.
The company previously delayed any rate increases due to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Blue Granite will also continue to observe a ban on service cutoffs until the end of the year.
Last October, the company had asked to increase rates as much as 56% to try to recoup $23 million in infrastructure improvements Blue Granite has made in recent years. But the Public Service Commission — which must review and approve utility increases in South Carolina — cut back that proposal after a series of sometimes contentious public hearings across the state at which customers complained of past rate hikes and poor customer service.
Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, said in an email to constituents that moving ahead with a rate increase despite the economic pressures the coronavirus has put on households would be “unconscionable.” The senator represents several Midlands customers of Blue Granite, and said the company appears to be trying to get around the commission’s decision.
“It’s a head-I-win-tails-you-lose result and it is an outrage,” Harpootlian said.
A state consumer advocate has also written to the Public Service Commission stating it is “uncertain if Blue Granite is permitted to charge the new rates referenced in its customer notice” and asking that the company move forward with the rate increases already approved by the commission instead.
“South Carolina residents continue to face significant unemployment and decreased financial security,” the consumer advocate’s letter reads. “We are hopeful creative options to prevent any additional burden, or otherwise lessen the impact, on customers can be reached.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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