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Customers not willing to compromise

More than 200 residents show up to fight the utility's proposed settlement to help clear up water problems.

By PHIL DAVIS
Published August 16, 2005

NEW PORT RICHEY - Settle or settle in for a long fight and continued water woes.

That was the blunt message Monday from Aloha Utilities President Steve Watford after listening to more than five hours of customer complaints about the utility's proposed settlement of a seven-year legal battle with the state Public Service Commission.

Watford said the monopoly water utility can either continue to fight what he considers unfair government regulation or work on a fix to the smelly, discolored water that sometimes comes from customers' taps. There is no middle ground, he said.

"We have to defend ourselves," Watford said. He said settlement is the quickest path to a solution for the utility's frustrated customers.

Four PSC members came to New Port Richey on Monday to hear public input on a settlement that would close all three Aloha cases on their docket, including one where 2,000 of the utility's 15,000 customers are seeking removal from the Aloha service area. The commission votes on the settlement at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Tallahassee.

Aloha's settle-or-fight logic already won over the PSC staff, who recommended last month that the commissioners approve the settlement. A vote was set for Aug. 2, but delayed after customers complained they were shut out of the process.

Customers turned out in force Monday. More than 200 people packed County Commission chambers and cheered as several speakers criticized Aloha and the PSC.

"I think the commission heard everyone loud and clear," said Wayne Forehand, leader of a group of frustrated customers. "We've got to get rid of (Aloha). They're not people you can work with."

Listening to five hours' worth of complaints on how his staff has handled the Aloha issue was just about enough for PSC Chairman Braulio Baez. He interrupted County Commissioner Jack Mariano to express frustration that the county only recently jumped into the fray. It had the legal authority to take on local utility regulation several years ago, Baez said.

"The county has had the option to take on this problem and they are more than welcome to it," Baez said, apologizing moments later for a loss of composure. "I can't tell anybody what to do anymore. That's how it seems."

In the settlement, Aloha offers to help customers replace copper piping with plastic in an effort to alleviate some of the water quality problems, which it has always blamed on customer pipes. The offer of $1,000 cash and up to $2,500 in interest-free financing will be available to no more than 200 customers, the settlement said.

Aloha agreed to let the PSC choose a water treatment option from those offered in an upcoming University of South Florida study. Aloha is paying for the study of methods to cut down on hydrogen sulfide thought to cause the rotten egg odor and blackish color in some Aloha water.

The utility promised to stop its ongoing legal challenges to Florida Public Service Commission orders, including an order to pay back $276,000 to customers. But Aloha requires in the settlement that commissioners halt the efforts of the Seven Springs customers to break away from the utility's water network.

PSC lawyers told commissioners to accept Aloha's settlement terms to avoid several more years of legal wrangling. Aloha has appealed all the PSC's past orders. It is also appealing a Pasco County ordinance that orders the company to install aeration towers to cleanse its water. Rick Melson, the PSC's general counsel, told customers at Monday's hearing that the continued legal fight is delaying work on a resolution to their water quality problems.

"You're unlikely to see better water before 2010-2011" if the battle continues, he said. But settling now, Melson said, will lead to a fix sometime in 2007.

Aloha opponents said they were tired of the long legal fight, but weren't willing to let Aloha off the hook.

Critics invoked a variety of puns, the Bible and even a political song and dance number from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas .

Trinity resident Milton Chajnowski summed up customer sentiments with a play on the utility's name: "Aloha in Hawaii means hello and goodbye. In Florida, I just think it should mean goodbye."

--Phil Davis can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6247 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6247. His e-mail address is pdavis@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 16, 2005, 01:29:18]