PSC staff says Aloha should fund study

The recommendations urge the utility to continue to try to solve a problem with black water, even though the water is called satisfactory.

By ALISA ULFERTS

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 9, 2000

State Rep. Mike Fasano hopes the Public Service Commission will not simply accept its staff's recommendation on how to fix customer complaints about Aloha Utilities without ordering the utility to clean up.

But if it does, the New Port Richey Republican said, he hopes the roughly 8,500 Aloha customers in Aloha Gardens and Seven Springs go on to plan B -- a class action lawsuit.

"I hope that they take our advice and do that," Fasano said.

Staffers with the PSC, the state agency that regulates private utility companies, on Thursday released their recommendations in the ongoing dispute between Aloha Utilities and its customers. Customers have complained for years about black water, and Fasano, an Aloha customer, has led the charge against the utility.

Thursday's staff recommendation has left both sides scratching their heads, in part because it declares the water satisfactory, but then suggests the company fund a pilot study to solve the black water problem.

Aloha attorney F. Marshall Deterding said the recommendation places the utility squarely where it was two years ago before Fasano and several other customers protested the state's plan for Aloha to build treatment plants to rid the water of hydrogen sulfide.

"It's basically what they said two years ago ... except it includes a pilot study that we said we'd be willing to do," Deterding said.

"In any case, we're overall satisfied" with the recommendation, Deterding said. He added the company was eager to resolve the dispute, which has cost the company $500,000 so far. Deterding said ultimately Aloha Utilities will have to raise rates to adopt the Public Service Commission's recommendations, but he didn't know whether the cost of the PSC review itself would drive those rates up.

Company officials also have stressed that the water has met all state and federal quality standards.

Fasano, while disappointed with the staff recommendation, said he was pleased that the staff has accepted his plea for Aloha to increase the impact fees it charges for new homes to hook up to the system.

"That's something I've been pushing for years" Fasano said.

The PSC began investigating the utility company's rates, water and service quality in 1996. It decided Aloha's water quality and response to customer concerns were unsatisfactory, but stopped short of blessing Aloha's proposal to construct three water treatment plants, which would have increased customer rates by 396 percent, according to the PSC. Staffers then recommended that the investigation be closed.

But Aloha customers, including Fasano, protested, and the PSC agreed to hold another series of public hearings before the agency's final June 20 vote. Close to 500 people attended those hearings.

Alisa Ulferts covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is ulferts@sptimes.com.

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