ALBANY — The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) today announced it would hold informational forums and public statement hearings in the Village of Carmel, the City of Rye, and New City to receive comments on Suez Water New York’s (SWNY) proposal to increase rates and to merge SUEZ Water Westchester (SWWC) and SUEZ Water Owego-Nichols (SWON) with and into SWNY (collectively, the companies).

On March 4, 2019, the companies filed a proposal to increase the companies’ annual base revenue by approximately $31.5 million. The proposed rates would result in varying bill impacts to customers in the different service territories. The proposed rates would increase the average residential monthly water bill by about $10.50 (18.6 percent) in Rockland County; $5.40 (11.5 percent) in the City of Rye and the villages of Rye Brook and Port Chester in Westchester County; and $2.70 (5.6 percent) in Forest Park. Customers in other parts of Westchester would see a reduction in their monthly bill of $4.20 (7.5 percent) per month and customers in Owego and Nichols would see no change in their monthly bills.

Included in the companies’ proposal is a plan to invest $440 million over the next five years for infrastructure projects, including the Deforest Reservoir Upgrade, the Westchester Disinfection Project, and the planned increase in main replacement projects. In addition, the companies are seeking to consolidate their rules and regulations under one tariff and merge certain rate design elements with the goal of eventually adopting uniform rates across all three companies.

Opportunities for public information and comment will be held, as follows: 

At the public statement hearings, individuals will have an opportunity to make statements on the record about the companies’ proposals. Appointments to speak are not necessary; rather, attendees must complete a card requesting time to speak and people will be called in the order in which the cards are received. You need not provide written copies of comments because the public statement hearing will be transcribed and will be included in the record of these cases. Each public statement hearing will be held open for at least one-half hour and, where practicable, will be kept open until everyone wishing to speak has been heard or other reasonable arrangements have been made.

Persons with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodations should contact the Department of Public Service’s Human Resource Management Office at (518) 474-2520 as soon as possible. TDD users may request a sign language interpreter by placing a call through the New York Relay Service at 711. Individuals with difficulty understanding or reading English are encouraged to call the Commission at 1-800-342-3377 for free language assistance services regarding this notice.

Other Ways to Comment

For those who cannot attend or prefer not to speak at a public statement hearing, there are several other ways to comment about this case to the Commission. Comments should refer to “Case 19-W-0168 - SUEZ Water Rates and Merger Petition.”

Internet or Email: Go to www.dps.ny.gov, click on “Search,” search using case number “19-W-0168” and then click the “Post Comments” button at the top of the page; or email comments to the Secretary for the Commission at secretary@dps.ny.gov.

Alternatively, comments may be mailed or delivered to Hon. Kathleen H. Burgess, Secretary, Public Service Commission, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1350.

Toll-Free Opinion Line: You may call the Commission’s Opinion Line at 1-800-335-2120. This number is set up to take comments about pending cases from in-state callers, 24 hours a day.