Johnson Utilities Rate Review

Maintaining necessary infrastructure to support effective water and wastewater services requires ongoing investment. Rates generate the money it takes to run and maintain a utility – rate changes are looked at when rates aren't generating enough money to cover the costs, or when they are bringing in more money than needed. For Johnson Utilities, it's a combination of changes in the cost to run the system and critical infrastructure projects that have already been completed to improve your service.

Current water and wastewater rates for Johnson Utilities are based on costs from 2007 – the new request is based on costs 12 years later, in 2019. The application requests the difference between what Johnson Utilities is currently collecting and what it needs to collect based on current costs. Based on the figures in the application, the potential change to the average monthly residential customer bill could range from $3 to $15 depending on whether a customer receives water service, wastewater service, or both, and how much water they use. Customers have a great deal of control over their water bill – the less water you use, the lower your bill will be.

EPCOR continues to make significant improvements in the Johnson Utilities system, and investment is still needed to secure the system's long-term health and to provide safe, reliable service now and into the future. If the ACC approves new revenues from this application, they will not be used to pay for future capital investments outlined in a plan the ACC approved in late 2019.

As Interim Manager of Johnson Utilities, EPCOR was required by the ACC to file this rate review on behalf of Johnson Utilities – it is not related in any way to EPCOR or its customers. The ACC normally takes at least a year to review and make a decision on new rates.

EPCOR contracted third-party experts to develop the application. Our internal experts oversaw the process and filed it on behalf of Johnson Utilities February 14, 2020. On November 25, 2020, the ACC temporarily suspended the rate review while it considers the request to transfer ownership from Johnson Utilities to EPCOR.

Supporting documents

Second Procedural Notice to Customers
Second Procedural Order
Procedural Notice to Customers
Procedural Order
Letter of Sufficiency
Rate Review Application - February 14, 2020