{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Citizens Utility Board","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org","title":"News release: Bipartisan group of lawmakers join with CUB to oppose water rate hikes, call for legislative reforms | Citizens Utility Board","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"kQDkzCB8Jv\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/10\/bipartisan-group-of-lawmakers-join-cub-to-oppose-water-rate-hikes-call-for-legislative-reforms\/\">News release: Bipartisan group of lawmakers join with CUB to oppose water rate hikes, call for legislative reforms<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/blog\/2024\/07\/10\/bipartisan-group-of-lawmakers-join-cub-to-oppose-water-rate-hikes-call-for-legislative-reforms\/embed\/#?secret=kQDkzCB8Jv\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;News release: Bipartisan group of lawmakers join with CUB to oppose water rate hikes, call for legislative reforms&#8221; &#8212; Citizens Utility Board\" data-secret=\"kQDkzCB8Jv\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","description":"As frustration mounts among 1.5 million private water customers in Illinois, state legislators from both sides of the political aisle joined the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) on Wednesday to urge state regulators to reject rate hikes proposed by Illinois American Water and Aqua Illinois, call on the General Assembly to reform state water policy that has hurt consumers, and alert people of the upcoming Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) public forums on the proposed increases. State Rep. Dagmara Avelar, a Democrat from Romeoville, state Sen. Sue Rezin, a Republican from Morris, state Rep. Nabeela Syed, a Democrat from Palatine, and state Sen. Rachel Ventura, a Democrat from Joliet, held a news conference (video) with CUB Director of Governmental Affairs Bryan McDaniel in Bolingbrook\u2013a community that has suffered under high Illinois American bills. They detailed how Aqua and Illinois American\u2013the state\u2019s two biggest private water utilities\u2013have abused their customers in recent years: In January, Aqua, which serves about 273,000 customers in Illinois, filed for a $19.2 million rate-hike request that could increase water\/wastewater bills by as much as $29.91 per month. Aqua\u2019s parent company, Essential Utilities, saw a 7 percent increase in profits, to $498 million in 2023, and the utility last received a rate hike, about $7 million, in 2018. In February, Illinois American, which serves about 1.3 million Illinois customers, filed for a $152.4 million rate-hike request that could raise water\/wastewater bills by up to $29 a month. The utility\u2019s parent, American Water, made $944 million in profits in 2023, a 15 percent increase from the year before. Illinois American has won $120 million in additional rate hikes in less than a decade\u2013an $85 million increase in 2022 and a $35 million hike in 2016. While they pay higher bills, private water customers have also been the victims of extremely poor service\u2014including an Aqua water outage in Lake County in 2023 and unacceptable levels of lead in drinking water in University Park in 2019. While Aqua says the problem in University Park has been fixed, years later some customers were still drinking bottled water because they didn\u2019t trust the company. Even before the utilities\u2019 rate-hike requests, their customers contacted CUB to complain about excessive water bills, because water policy is sorely in need of reform in Illinois: Private water utilities in 2000 won state legislative approval to add a \u201cQualifying Infrastructure Plant\u201d surcharge to bills, which has needlessly increased costs for customers. In 2013, the utilities successfully pushed for a state law that allows Illinois American and Aqua to buy up depreciated water and wastewater systems across the state and charge their customers to cover 100 percent of the acquisition costs. CUB Water Tracker, CUB\u2019s special online center monitoring the problem, found that these for-profit companies have so far purchased 59 systems since 2013 and have passed $402 million in acquisition costs onto their customers. Private water companies often charge customers more, once they take over those municipal systems. CUB\u2019s legal team is challenging the rate-hike requests, uncovering $7.6 million in overcharges buried in Aqua\u2019s proposed\u00a0increase, and $48.8 million in overcharges in Illinois American\u2019s proposed increase. At the same time, [&hellip;]","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Water-News-Conference-Visual-Instagram-Post-800x533.png"}