The Fayson Lake Water Company is seeking a 15% rate increase. Part of it is to recover $166,559 from ratepayers for a needless and wasteful project they abandoned. The average cost per customer is nearly $200, for nothing in return. A clear message must be sent to the water company that ratepayers must not be made to bear the costs of unreasonable and imprudent expenditures.
The Kinnelon Board of Adjustments determined that the proposed Galloway tank replacement was unnecessary, and would substantially impact the quality of life of residents in Stonybrook Highlands. The State Superior Court upheld that decision. The community told the water company this at the outset. Unfortunately, the water company disregarded it, and other reasonable alternatives, and instead made an extremely imprudent decision to spend an inordinate amount of money needlessly.
We call upon the BPU, Rate Counsel, and the OAL to deny the Fayson Lake Water Company's application for a rate increase to recoup the $166,559 they wasted on the abandoned Galloway tank replacement project. We respectfully request that the Company's application and the underlying abandoned project be fully investigated to establish that the company failed to meet the reasonable and prudent investment standard needed to recover the cost of that abandoned project.
