Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Indiana-American Water Co. customers received a rate increase notice from Indiana-American president John E. Eckhart recently announcing the company's intention to increase water rates.
The rate increase request comes on the heels of a deal with RWE AG of Germany to buy American Water Works Co. Inc. for $4.6 billion in cash.
Indiana-American Water is part of American Water Works, which owns 22 utility subsidiaries serving more than seven million people in 21 states.
Eckhart's letter states Indiana-American is petitioning the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to raise rates 3.1 percent for general water service customers in the Warsaw area.
According to the letter, the average residential customer pays approximately 87 cents a day for water service. If the proposed rates are approved, customers would pay 90 cents a day.
Indiana-American has replaced 1,160 feet of water main on Logan Street and installed approximately 8,200 feet of 12-inch water main at Winona Lake.
There also is a proposed increase of 2.9 percent in the fire protection surcharge. The average customer would pay less than 1 cent more per day.
Other items related to the rate hike include costs for meter replacements, Y2K compliance and increasing costs to provide service related to new and impending environmental regulations.
Warsaw-area customers will be paying the low end of a complicated rate hike proposal, according to Mary ByBeth Fischer, IURC director of public information.
In other parts of the state the increase may reach as high as 50 percent.
"My understanding is it's coming in phases," said Fischer of the huge rate hike. "Each district is paying different rates."
As an investor-owned water utility, Indiana-American operates under IURC, Indiana Department of Environmental Management and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules and regulations.
Local rates may be set as early as mid-2002. No hearing dates have been set yet, according to Fischer.
The rate increase also may help reduce American Water Works' debt of $3 billion, a liability RWE plans to assume.
RWE will combine its U.S. operations with Thames Water, the German firm's London-based water business purchased last year.
RWE has 12 major operating units and an annual revenue of $57 billion. In addition to water-system holdings, it also sells electricity and natural gas and provides wastewater services.
