Aquarion Water Company

Water Infrastructure & Conservation Adjustment

As an Aquarion Water Company customer, effective April 1, 2009 you will see a new line in your bill: a small surcharge in accordance with the Water Infrastructure and Conservation Act (WICA). This Act was designed to facilitate more timely replacements of aging infrastructure, such as old or problematic water mains, valves that manage the flow of water through the mains, Aquarion-owned fire hydrants, meters and leak-detection equipment.

Letters were mailed to customers in February 2009 to provide notice of the proposed WICA adjustment. For details about what WICA is, how it works and the benefits of WICA, click here to see a copy of the letter. Customers are also receiving a second letter about WICA with their bills between April 1 and July 1. To obtain a reprint of this letter explaining the details of Aquarion’s first approved WICA adjustment, click here.

On December 17, 2008, the DPUC approved many of the projects Aquarion submitted for consideration, and the Company was eligible to file its first application for a WICA adjustment in February 2009. Aquarion Water Company of Connecticut received approval for less than a 1% WICA adjustment (0.93%) effective April 1, 2009. Although your cost is only approximately one cent per day, the total utility plant investment amounted to $9,220,821.

The 2007 legislation allows water companies to apply to the Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) for these surcharges between full rate cases. The legislation limits the increase to 5% in any given year, and 7.5% between full rate cases. The benefits of WICA to our customers are two-fold. First, you will see timelier, smaller increases to your water bill than you have experienced in the past. Second, you will benefit from enhanced quality and reliability, because improving our infrastructure enables us to improve our service and delivery.

Our commitment to you, our customer, is to continue to provide high quality water with outstanding service, and WICA will allow us to achieve this.

If you desire more information about the surcharge, please contact us locally at (203) 445-7310 [toll-free at (800) 732-9678].