3. Public Participation
Two public participation hearings (PPHs) were held in San Jose on January 12, 2010. At the hearings, most speakers stressed that in these hard economic times people were struggling and could not pay the rate increase being requested by Great Oaks.
At the PPH, the Commission received a petition signed by 202 residents of the Rancho Santa Teresa Mobile Estates (Rancho Santa Teresa).12 Barbara Walters, manager of the mobile home park, spoke at length. Rancho Santa Teresa has 302 occupied spaces and most residents have low incomes with little or no ability to pay for increases in the next three years. The park directly meters and bills each mobile home, so the residents do not qualify for Great Oaks' low income assistance program. Mrs. Walters has done all she can to assist customers, including distributing notices from SCVWD requesting customers to reduce their water consumption by 10%. Terry Walters, husband of Barbara Walters, testified that the level of Great Oaks' requested rate increase was unconscionable. Many of the residents of Rancho Santa Teresa Mobile Estates were retired people on Social Security and he understood Social Security is not going to go up this year or next year.
The first speaker at the afternoon session of the PPH, William Schaefer, testified he was generally a satisfied customer but that given the difficult economic times, if this increase were approved he would have to find ways to conserve water as he is a retired person with limited income. The next speaker, Nancy Zampiello, testified that she found Great Oaks' notice of its application confusing and that she was living on a fixed income and could not afford the rate increase being requested. She later stated that the utility's explanations led her to believe that if she conserved water she would just be charged more. Don Catudal testified that in this bad economy, now was not the time to ask for a large rate increase. Rather, the utility should be doing as other businesses were doing and making cutbacks in operational expenses. He had reviewed the minor miscellaneous projects being requested and spoken with the company and did not find justification for a large increase. He also questioned whether foreclosures in the area rather than conservation were responsible for the utility stating its sales had declined. Richard Couderc agreed with the comments of earlier speakers and urged the Commission to heed the concerns expressed. Shirley Starr expressed extreme concern with the level of rate increase being requested and testified she would be unable to afford it.
Tracy Hemmeter requested that Great Oaks provide customers with more information, including proposed projects and the amount of increase from capital projects, conservation, and employee costs. She testified that many people are facing threats to their jobs, so every penny counts. She did not understand the conservation rate design proposal and testified that Great Oaks had never sent mailers about conservation.
Regarding DRA's proposal for tiered conservation rates for single family residential customers, Stu Goodgold testified that he lived in a 13 house development in an unincorporated area of Almaden Valley where the homes were on 2 acre lots and used a high amount of water. Water bills in the summer were sometimes $350 a month. He was very concerned about the effects a tiered conservation rate design would have on him and his neighbors.13
In addition to speakers at the PPH, the Commission has received nine written letters from customers. All of these customers oppose Great Oaks' request for a rate increase, and most harshly criticize the utility for requesting such a large increase in these hard economic times.
12 The Petition states:
We oppose the proposed increase in our water rates. We want to stop any increase and request the water rates to remain at the current rate. We are not enjoying any increase in wages or employment benefits. We have complied with the mandatory water conservation. Many of us are on fixed or low incomes and can barely afford to keep up with our food and housing costs. Some of us are facing losing our homes because of the economic troubles of this area. We often go without medical care and other necessities, because of the housing expenses we already pay. It is unfair for you to make any increase at this critical time in our economy.
13 Goodhold further testified that three years ago Great Oaks asked to buy their small community water system and told the community that rates would be marginally higher than what they were paying for their small community water system but they would have the reliability of a Class A water system and avoid maintenance and the problems they had had with occasional repairs.
