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Howell Blasts Parkway Water Company's Proposed Rate Hike
By Keith Hagarty
HOWELL - The Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority wasn't buying, leaving the owners of the troubled-plagued Parkway Water Co. to continue operations on its own following the discovery of contamination in its wells.
Now, a recent decision by the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to allow a 78.9 percent rate hike to township customers using the Parkway Water Co. has left the Howell Township Council in a state of disbelief, criticizing the water company for what they view as a long line of negative actions.
The rate hike would increase the average customer's annual bill by approximately $300.
Calling it "the Parkway Water rate application fiasco," Howell Mayor Joseph DiBella said he was fed up with what he's seen from the Marlboro-based utility.
Providing water service to approximately 1,900 homes and businesses in the Ramtown section of Howell, the privately-owned Marlboro-based Parkway Water Co. has been in turmoil for the past two years. The water company was on the market because of radium contamination detected in several of its wells, but the prospective buyer, the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority, backed out at the last minute. Parkway has since been purchasing water from the New Jersey-American Water Company and the BTMUA.
Parkway Water maintains that the issue that raised questions concerning the quality of the water was no fault of their own and instead was caused by changes in the natural elements that exist in the water. Those changes - and the resulting contamination - have meant greater expenses, according to the company The company has stated that the reason for the rate hike is to cover the increased cost of purchasing the water from an outside source.
One of the aspects of the BPU's approval is a stipulation requiring Parkway Water to reappear before the state agency in a year to report on options to reduce their water costs. DiBella was unsure whether such a stipulation was par for the course of the application process, or atypical in such a decision.
Township Attorney Thomas Gannon had an answer to DiBella's unspoken question.
"It's atypical, and it a positive indication that the BPU is monitoring
(the procedures of the Parkway
Water Company)," Gannon said. "We are in discussion with the ratepayer advocate to determine whether or not they will appeal the determination of the BPU."
After the judge's initial ruling in July to approve the rate hike, Di- Bella had said Parkway Water did little to remedy the problem with their water for their customers in a proper manner.
"Parkway Water didn't create
the problem with what was in
their water," DiBella explained. "What they failed to do was act in a responsible way to make people aware of the situation sooner, and they failed to outline a set of solutions to try and fix the problem more quickly."
As a Ramtown resident, Councilman Juan Malave is outraged by the water company's proposed rate hike.
"They have been requesting a 104 percent increase to their rates and we've been fighting them all along the way," said Malave. "Unfortunately, although not official yet, it appears that the BPU is leaning in their favor, and we may be facing the possibility of a 79 percent rate increase, which to me is outrageous."
"It's unconscionable that Parkway has to go for this measure," he said. "Instead of fixing their problem, that in my view they should be solely responsible for, they chose-in light of a better word-to stick it to the ratepayers."
Since the rate hike still has yet to be memorialized there is still the possibility of an appeal, but the fact that the BPU has already had a series of hearings to further reduce Parkway Water's initial rate hike request makes the potential success of an appeal process unlikely, according to Councilman Pete Tobasco.
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