Public Comment & Hearing - SW-04026A-24-0275 - Bensch Ranch Utilities, LLC SW-03962A-24-0276 - Pine Meadows Utilities, LLC SW-03437A-24-0277 - Verde Santa Fe Wastewater Company, Inc.

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Arizona Corporation Commission 1h 6m 8 agenda items transcribed 2 days ago official recording ↗

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What is the purpose of this public hearing and who are the parties involved?

Charles Haynes 0:00

All right, let's go ahead and go on the record. And good morning everyone, and welcome to the Arizona Corporation Commission. Uh this is the time set for the hearing in the matter of the rate applications of bench ranch utilities, Pine Meadows Utilities, and Verde Santa Fe Wastewater Company. Uh the docket numbers are SW-04026A-24-0275. uh SW dash zero three nine six two A dash two four four four four four four dash zero two seven six and SW dash zero three four three seven A Dash two four. Dash zero two seven seven. I'm administrative law judge Charles Haynes. I'll be presiding over this matter, and to start I'll take appearances of the parties, beginning with the applicant.

Jay Shapiro 0:51

Thank you, Your Honor. Jay Shapiro from the Shapiro Law Firm on behalf of the applicants. Bench Ranch Utilities, Pine Meadow Utilities, and Verde Santa Fe Wastewater Company. With me at the table this morning are the Vice President of Regulation and Rates for JW Water, Miss Jill Schwartz, uh Cherish Barbie, the uh senior rate analyst who'll be testifying today, and uh Mr. Brassa, who hopefully won't be testifying today.

Charles Haynes 1:21

Oh, I didn't even recognize you th you had your head turned down so I wasn't gonna say that, so

Unknown 1:28

Yeah.

Charles Haynes 1:30

All right, thank you. And on behalf of the Utilities Division staff.

Bridget Humphrey 1:33

Good morning, Your Honor, Bridget Humphrey and Robert Nauer on behalf of staff. And with us today, uh in the hearing room are staff witnesses Britt Baxter, uh uh Brenda Perez Palacios and Cam Ayton.

Charles Haynes 1:48

Right, thank you. And I assume there are none, but I'll ask very quickly are there any procedural matters we need to discuss this morning before we're getting started? All right. Staff. All right. Very good. In that case then I'll ask uh this is the time set for public comment. So is there anyone present in the room who would like to provide comments? I see s yes. Go ahead and come on up. Yeah. If I could have you give your name, spell your last name, and then uh one, indicate which system among the three companies you're a customer of, and then uh proceed to give your comments.

Diana Fuller 2:22

Thank you. My name is Diana Fuller, F-U-L-L-E-R. I'm a homeowner in Binch Ranch Estates, and Binch Ranch Utilities is my sewer company. Just to give a brief history, I filed a letter of intervention, which I don't know if you have it or not. But anyway, I purchased my property in twenty twenty one. At the time the fees were forty seven a month. In addition to that, I was charged HOA sewer fees, which I always believed was going to be entrance utilities, but most recently discovered their they were actually going to do a W holding And they weren't getting to bench ranch utilities. But when I purchased my property, I have a developed and undeveloped lot, so I was charged two HOA fees. I was paying $75 a month in 2021.

Diana Fuller 3:20

Uh f in 2021, bench ranch utilities came before the commission and asked for an increase in rates. Which they were granted, but the commission was not aware that we were also being charged HOA fees. I have no idea where those monies were going. But beginning in the year 2022, my sewer fees and expenses went up from $47 a month to $79.80 plus $20 approximately $28 a month. Month HOA fees. From that date until present, I've been paying $107.80 a month for sewer. Plus, I'm responsible for owning and maintaining the grinder pump, which is expensive. In 2021, I had to replace it at $4,500. My neighbor had to pay $6,000 to For a new one.

Charles Haynes 4:18

If I could just pause you there, what what kind of pump?

Diana Fuller 4:20

A grinder pump. It takes the waste from my house. My understanding is it somewhat liquefies it and then it takes it out to the main line to take it down to the sewer plant plant. It's an integral part of the sewer system. So when this most recent uh petition was filed for another rate increase at a very high rate, of course being a single woman on a fixed income. that was kind of like I have to do something. So I filed a letter of intervention. There were two other homeowners who also filed formal letters of intervention. We really weren't involved. In the negotiations between JW Holding and our board of directors.