PUC Ruling For Aqua To Takeover Willistown Sewer Plant Is Appealed

WILLISTOWN, PA — Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate and a township resident petitioned the Commonwealth Court to overturn the Public Utilities Commission’s approval of Aqua Pennsylvania purchasing the township’s sewer plan for $17.5 million.

The PUC panel of three commissioners on July 8 approved the sale under the condition that the township, which wants to sell the plant, identifies all missing easements and conveys the easements to Aqua.

The decision also requires that Aqua freezes rate increases for two years.

A 2016 Pennsylvania law encourages municipalities to sell sewer plants.

Aqua is based in Bryn Mawr and has 20,000 wastewater connections and 11 treatment plants in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate is a state agency that provides public protection.

Erin L. Gannon, an attorney representing consumer advocate, said the township residents are a dedicated group of citizens concerned with rate increases.

The current average sewer bill of a Willistown resident is $63.30 per month.

The plant serves 2,294 households. The remaining 2,000 households have septic tanks.

Gannon wrote in the appeal that the PUC ruling improperly granted the approval without considering the benefits to the residents.

“The sale would not provide any net benefit to safety and reliability because Willistown is not a troubled system,” Gannon wrote.

Gannon wrote that Willistown had fewer Department of Environmental Protection violations than Aqua.

Gannon and Robert A. Swift, a township resident who filed a separate appeal, concluded that the benefits do not outweigh the negative impact on the residents, who will endure higher sewer rates under Aqua.

Aqua countered in a prepared statement for Patch.com that the PUC decision for Aqua to purchase the Willistown system will further the public interest, including the consolidation and regionalization of waste water systems in Pennsylvania.

“We believe the PUC decision also supports the rights of elected municipal leadership across the Commonwealth to determine the best wastewater solutions for the constituents that elected them.”