PUC Approves Aqua’s Takeover Of Willistown Sewer Plant

WILLISTOWN TWP— The Public Utilities Commission approved Aqua Pennsylvania’s request to purchase the Willistown Township Sewer Plant for $17.5 million, according to an order issued Friday.

A PUC panel of three commissioners concluded the sale is approved under conditions that the township has identified all missing easements and conveys the easements to Aqua.

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

The residents and the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate can appeal the decision to Commonwealth Court.

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.

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.

The panel concluded that the benefits of Aqua purchasing the system outweigh the purported harm outlined by the residents.

On Aug. 3, 2021, Aqua filed an application for the sale of the Willistown Sewer Plant with the PUC. The township has approved of the sale.

Subsequently, on Feb. 7, the Concerned Willistown Sewer Customers, a citizens' group, appealed the decision before a PUC hearing board.

Henry Yordan, a member of citizen's group, said about three dozen members testified against selling the sewer plant during a public hearing in February.

The residents said that sale would create rate increases and that the township already does provide quality service.

Judge Jeffrey A. Watson, an administrative judge for the Public Utility Commission, on April 21 found that Willistown's relatively new system is well-run and adequately financed, and the affluent township has $20 million. A Patch story on the decision is available here.

PUC's Ruling

The PUC committee's ruling overturned the PUC administrative law judge's decision. The decision is available here.

In the 176-page PUC ruling, the PUC panel sided Aqua and the township.

Aqua argued that the transaction will provide benefits to both the new customers and existing customers because the customers will be served by a larger efficiently operated plant.

Aqua said it would invest $3.3 million over the next 10 years to upgrade the system.

The township wants to sell its sewer system, noting that the upfront proceeds from the proposed transaction will permit various redevelopment opportunities to be accomplished.

Under under the current system, after-hour emergencies unnecessarily utilize the township's police resources who are required to notify a public works employee on call.

The township has a team of nine employees responsible for roads, stormwater, parks and sewer services, which occupies 30% of their time.

Reaction

Yordan said the citizens' group is disappointed with the PUC decision.

"We are disappointed that the commission has seen fit to reject the recommendation of the administrative law judge to deny approval of the acquisition, " Yordan wrote in a statement on behalf of the citizens' group.

"With the issuance of this decision, the full Commission discards the efforts of civic-minded citizens who stepped forth to protect the public, overrules its own presiding officer, and rules in favor of powerful interests, crushing the little guy, the ratepayer, in the process."

Yordan wrote in the statement that the PUC has established an elaborate and very expensive process to evaluate whether market value wastewater acquisitions result in a substantial benefit to the public, as required by law.

Yordan said the commission rejects all decisions made by the judge that does not favor Aqua.

"Something seems wrong with this picture," the statement concluded.

Tredyffrin Township supervisors recently discussed selling the sewer plant as an option to fund storm water management issues. The township supervisors did not pursue that option.