BOISE, Idaho — Veolia, a water company that provides service to over 108,000 customers in Eagle and Boise, has filed a rate review with the Idaho Public Utility Commission (PUC) – asking to increase rates for customers by 23 cents per day.
It comes after Veolia made $74 million worth of investments since Jan. 1, 2023 – and those improvements help water quality, storage capacity and fire suppression, according to Veolia’s press release.
“They'll [PUC] review our application and then decide what costs are going to allow us to recover that would result in a new rate for customers to pay,” said Madeline Wyatt, communications manager for Veolia.
If the PUC does pass Veolia’s rate request, rates would increase for residential customers by $6.77 per month and commercial customers by $24.63 a month.
“It's almost two years of investments that we've made totaling $74 million,” Wyatt said.
However, customers will receive the same benefits, whether their rates increase or not. Wyatt said it’s not more about forward thinking – and making investments in the future that they need money for.
“If Veolia wants to be able to continue to invest in the system, we have to be able to recoup some funds,” Wyatt said. “The money has to come from somewhere, and our customers are benefiting from the improvements that we made to the system.”
If the request does pass, Veolia is proposing a two-year phase-in system, to ease the burden on customers.
"Whatever amount the Public Utility Commission decides we can recover would be phased in over two years,” Wyatt said.
Some of the major investments Veolia did was expand their Columbia Water Treatment facility adding treatment capacity, and installed new pipes near Five Mile Road -- increasing water supply and improved water quality.
"Some of the investments we've made are very large, like the upgrades to the Columbia Water Treatment Facility, and some of them are very small, just to make sure that fire flow protection is in a community that might be at the end of a water line, etc," Wyatt said.
It will take several months for the PUC to decide, Wyatt said, but if the public does want to voice their comments, they can use the case docket number VEO-W-24-01 and submit them here or mail them to:
Idaho Public Utilities Commission
P.O. Box 83720
Boise, ID 83720.