OJAI : Hearings Scheduled on Water Rate Plan

The California Public Utilities Commission will hold two public hearings Monday on Southern California Water Co.’s request to raise Ojai water bills by an average of 41% over the next three years.

The rate increase would add $6.15 next year to the average monthly residential water bill of $31.86, the company said.

The proposed increase would add an average $3.71 in 1992 and $2.59 in 1993.

City Manager Andrew Belknap asked the Public Utilities Commission to hold the special hearings in Ojai to allow the company’s 2,688 customers in Ojai to comment on the proposed rate increase and on an alternative plan that would reward those who conserve water with reduced bills.

Belknap asked the company three months ago to change its rate structure to provide an incentive for customers to conserve.

Susan Conway, the water company’s regulatory affairs manager, said she will unveil a proposal on Monday with tiered rates as an alternative to the current method of billing all water use at the same rate.

Conway said it is not in a water company’s financial interest to promote conservation because it would diminish company revenues.

But, she said, the company will offer conservation incentives in its new proposal.

“If we don’t get support from the community and the city, it is unlikely the commission will go for the new rate structure,” she said.

Conway said the company would not release its proposal to the public until the 3 and 7 p.m. hearings at Ojai City Hall. Belknap said that would not leave him with enough time to review and respond to the new proposal.

Richard Tom, a commission staff member in charge of the hearings, said his staff will not be able to evaluate the new rate structure Monday. He said the new idea could delay the proceedings.

A final hearing on the rate hike is set for July 16 in Los Angeles. But the commission is not expected to render a decision until October, said Dorothy Taylor of the commission’s office in San Francisco.