Submitted by Harry Fisher, Republican Greenwich Board of Estimate and Taxation chair
The Democrats and entrenched bureaucrats are coming for our water. Eversource announced earlier this year that it wants to sell its Aquarion water subsidiary. The government entity that claims to be a non-profit by the name of the Regional Water Authority (RWA) wants to acquire Aquarion.
Aquarion serves Greenwich and much of Fairfield County; RWA serves New Haven and surrounding towns. RWA’s rates have risen 40% in recent years, and are 23% higher than Aquarion’s rates. Need I say more why we should oppose the acquisition?
In order to bid on Aquarion, RWA needed enabling legislation from the Connecticut Legislature.
It obtained it by means of an omnibus bill passed during the Special Session earlier this summer. There was little if any debate, and it passed with the overwhelming majority that the Democrats have in Hartford, including democrat reps Meskers and Khana. Republican Ryan Fazio voted against.
On August 27th , I testified at a public hearing held in New Haven. While I identified myself as chairman of the BET, I stated that it took no position, and I was speaking as an individual. Prior to taking public comments, RWA advocated strongly that a government non-profit would perform better than a private company. I refuted that premise.
I pointed to the fact that Aquarion’s customers benefited from the discipline of the profit motive of a private company regulated by the CT Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), as evidenced by the lower rates paid by Aquarion customers. I pointed out that by its own statements about Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT), RWA would pay less over time than a private company would pay in taxes due to the exclusion of most improvements to plant and equipment. Tax revenue today to Greenwich is just shy of $ 500,000.
After the testimony, the RWA officials as much as stated that Aquarion’s rates would increase after the merger. They also indicated that they want to interconnect the two water supplies to take advantage of the surplus in the Bridgeport area, which Aquarion currently is working to provide to Greenwich and Stamford.
I hope it is clear that this would be a bad deal for the customers of Aquarion and the Town of Greenwich.
Thank you
Harry Fisher