Fairfield Urges Denial Of Aquarion Water Co. Sale To Regional Water Authority

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield is joining the chorus of Fairfield County municipalities in calling for the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to reject the proposed sale of Aquarion Water Company to the South-Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority.

In a message to constituents late last week, First Selectwoman Christine Vitale urged residents to write to PURA in an effort to convince the regulatory agency to scrap the sale.

Fairfield filed for intervenor status in May in the proposed deal.

"The pending transaction would result in significant increases in water rates," Vitale wrote. "In the PURA hearings, the applicants admitted that if this transaction is approved, water rates will increase by 65% over the next ten years. By contrast, in the last ten years, with PURA's regulatory oversight, water rates have only increased in the Aquarion region by 8.5%."

RWA is looking to buy Aquarion for $2.4 billion, but in addition to Fairfield, state Attorney General William Tong and leaders from several other Fairfield County communities have also voiced their opposition to the proposed deal, CT Insider reported. In all, the leaders of more than two-dozen Connecticut communities oppose the deal.

If approved, this would mark the third time that Aquarion has been sold in the past 20 years. Eversource, which owns Aquarion, bought the water company in 2017 for just under $1.7 billion. RWA would buy Aquarion with debt, which ratepayers would pay off over time with rate increases, according to Vitale.

Patch reached out to a spokesperson from Eversource for comment, but did not immediately receive a reply.

Vitale says that if the sale is allowed to proceed, PURA's oversight of Aquarion would be replaced by a "self-regulating structure that will have devastating rate consequences."

"Under the RWA model in the New Haven area, every rate increase sought by RWA has been rubber-stamped by a Board that it controls," Vitale wrote. "The same thing would happen to us if PURA's regulatory oversight is removed."

Currently, Aquarion pays Fairfield $1.8 million in annual taxes for property the company owns in town, but the tax revenue would be replaced by a Payment in Lieu of Taxes model, according to Vitale.

"In the PURA hearings, [RWA] admitted that PILOT will not include future property improvements, thereby guaranteeing that the Town will receive less revenue in the future that it would through property taxes," Vitale wrote. "Aquarion is one of the Town's largest taxpayers, and this material reduction in tax revenue will have a negative impact on Town services."

She added, " Write to PURA and ask them to deny the application entirely because it is not in the public interest. Ask that they not take risks that could jeopardize supply, service and rates for the 207,000 customers in the Aquarion region."

Public Utility Regulatory Authority
Ten Franklin Square, New Britain, CT 06051
Phone: 860-827-1553
Fax: 860-827-2822
EMAIL: PURA.ExecutiveSecretary@ct.gov
Please request that the Executive Secretary post your comments to Docket 25-04-03. Include your name and address.