Confused? The following article which will appear in newspapers may make the issue clearer. Also, keep in mind that Youngtown which is in the Sun City Water District and Sun City West also signed in favor of the proposed interim agreement. Keep sending emails, letters and phone calls to the AZ Corporation Commission to express your opposition to increased rates and full consolidation. ----------- Sun City Homeowners Association reasserts opposition to EPCOR plan SUN CITY, Ariz. – The leading government advocate for Sun City property owners and residents is affirming its opposition to a plan by EPCOR Water Arizona, Inc., to fully consolidate its wastewater service districts. Following a public hearing by the Arizona Corporation Commission on the plan and an interim agreement to consider a new set of rates as part of the consolidation, officials with the Sun City Homeowners Association stated that a commission flier had generated some confusion on its position. “At the ACC public comment session in Sun City, Nov. 26 at the Sundial Recreation Center, a flier from the ACC was distributed to attendees, outlining a recently endorsed Interim Settlement Agreement. All interveners, including the ACC Staff and RUCO (Residential Utility Consumer Office) as well as SCHOA, reviewed and signed off on this agreement,” stated Greg Eisert, chairman of SCHOA’s governmental affairs committee and a member of SCHOA’s board of directors. “SCHOA accepted the interim agreement as a stopgap should the commission proceed to endorse full consolidation. This interim agreement effectively takes the consolidation issue off the table, pending a full in-depth rate case. This interim agreement in no way changes SCHOA’s position against full consolidation. We adamantly oppose full consolidation,” Eisert’s statement continued. He further explained that were the commission to approve full consolidation, it would cost Sun City ratepayers $16 a month more almost immediately not the interim hike of $4 per month. “It was a difficult decision and hard to understand by some, but the risk of not endorsing the short-term agreement was far too high,” Eisert concluded. An administrative law judge is scheduled to issue a recommendation to the commission within the next two weeks, and the commission will decide on that finding by the third week in December. The commission can accept, reject or modify the judge’s finding. EPCOR has asked for full consolidation of its five wastewater service districts to equalize rates across the company’s entire service area, which see customers in some places – notably the Agua Fria District – pay four times the amount those in the Sun City and Sun City West districts pay.
Rusty Bradshaw wrote an excellent article regarding the EPCOR issue. It's online now at the Independent's website and I'm assuming it will be in this week's paper.
