Some Eagle residents want local control of their water company. This is happening instead
After years of questions about the fate of Eagle Water Co., the Idaho Public Utilities Commission has approved Suez Water’s purchase of the local water company.
Suez, the largest water company serving the Treasure Valley, has been trying to buy Eagle Water Co. for years. The company will make the purchase final in the coming weeks, Suez said.
The Public Utilities Commission announced Friday that it decided Suez’s purchase of Eagle Water is in the public interest and that customers of both Eagle Water and Suez “will benefit from the acquisition.”
Suez’s purchase of the smaller water company was made possible when the city of Eagle, Eagle Water and Suez resolved a lawsuit earlier this year, allowing the company to move forward with the purchase.
The acquisition folds Eagle Water into Suez’s existing Idaho operations, which serve 240,000 people in the valley. Eagle Water Co. serves 12,000.
“For Eagle Water customers, Suez represents a capable system operator with access to capital that can be invested in much-needed system upgrades,” the commission said in a news release.
Suez plans to make $14.6 million in capital improvements in the Eagle Water system during the next five years, the release said. Improvements include interconnecting to the Redwood Creek pipeline, building a 2-million-gallon water storage tank, and adding a supervisory control and data-acquisition system to allow 24-hour monitoring of the water system.
“We look forward to welcoming Eagle Water Co. customers,” Suez spokesperson Madeline Wyatt said by phone. “We will spend the next few weeks making the purchase final.”
The purchase should be final in late December, Wyatt said.
Some Eagle residents unhappy with the change
Many Eagle Water Co. customers are not happy with the purchase. In dozens of written comments to the Public Utilities Commission, Eagle Water customers said they were concerned that the quality of their drinking water will get worse with Suez taking over, and said that they wanted control of their water company to remain local.
“I am extremely disappointed that the (utilities commission) ignored the concerns of citizens by approving the sale and handing control of our most critical natural resource over to a French-based multinational for-profit corporation,” said Shelley Brock, an administrator for Eagle Water Customer Group, a group of Eagle residents concerned with the Eagle Water sale. “Water privatization has caused massive problems in communities like ours across the U.S. and around the world. Especially here in Idaho, where we prize our individual rights and independence, the thought that Eagle’s elected officials and state regulators would sell us out like this is deeply disturbing.”
Suez is a French company. It recently announced a merge with another French water company and its former rival. Veolia Environment, one of the world’s largest water companies, plans to take over Suez. The sale could be completed by the end of the year, the Statesman reported.
“Do not let Eagle water quality go downhill by selling off to some faceless bunch of profiteers,” wrote Stephen McCombs to the utlities commission. “Water quality and availability are serious issues for the future of not just Eagle, but all such small water districts. Water is becoming more and more of a high-value commodity. Eagle needs to keep it’s own system as pristine and local as possible.”
The utilities commission settlement agreement directs Eagle Water to refund approximately $592,020 to its customers. The refund is to offset all or part of a first-year rate increase for Eagle Water customers who were customers on the day the acquisition was approved, Dec. 9.
Water rate increases coming
The commission also approved a seven-year phased increase in rates for existing Eagle Water customers. Beginning Jan. 1, existing Eagle Water customers’ rates will be set at 50% of Suez’s approved rates.
The average Eagle Water Co. customer pays $12.35 per month using 12,000 gallons per month. At Suez’s winter rate, that customerusing that much waterwould pay more than $24 per month. At Suez’s higher summer rate, that customer would pay $31. Suez also assesses Boise homeowners a $21.88 bimonthly customer charge.
The utilities commission will phase in the rate hikes. Each year thereafter on Jan. 1, existing customers’ phase-in rates will increase by approximately 8.33% until their rates are 100% of Suez’s rates.
The rate increase for existing Eagle Water customers will follow this progression:
Jan. 1, 2022 – 50%
Jan. 1, 2023 – 58.33%
Jan. 1, 2024 – 66.67%
Jan. 1, 2025 – 75%
Jan. 1, 2026 – 83.33%
Jan. 1, 2027 – 91.67%
Jan. 1, 2028 – 100%
The seven-year phase-in is available only to existing Eagle Water customers. New customers starting service or connecting to service in the present Eagle Water service territory will pay current Suez rates when beginning service.
This story was originally published December 11, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
