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Some EPCOR Customers May See a Bill Hike if Water Plan Approved for Rio Verde Foothills

By April 14, 2023No Comments

By Sasha Hupka | Arizona Republic

A long-term water solution for Rio Verde Foothills, an unincorporated community north of Scottsdale that was recently cut off from that city’s water supply, is likely to mean minorly upping costs for current EPCOR customers in other parts of the Valley, an official from the private water utility testified Monday at an Arizona Corporation Commission hearing.

“We think it is the only viable option for customers there,” said Thomas Loquvam, EPCOR’s general counsel and vice president of public policy.

The hearing, scheduled for several days over a week-and-a-half period, is a crucial step toward the regulatory body potentially approving a solution to the community’s water woes. Before the commission are plans for EPCOR, which is regulated by the state, to serve the community.

Service by EPCOR has been the main solution on the table for the community since a proposal to create a water-taxing district was defeated in August when the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted it down.

As some residents pleaded for an EPCOR solution during the hearing, others from inside and outside the community voiced concerns about the proposed costs of the water and the potential impacts of a standpipe to serve the neighborhood.

Those issues bled into the questioning of Loquvam, who was grilled for hours on the company’s exact plans and imperfections in the solutions on the table.

EPCOR officials say the Corporation Commission must allow the company to consolidate Rio Verde Foothills into its existing Sonoran Water District for its solutions to work. That district is made up of communities spread across the Valley.

Including Rio Verde Foothills in the district would spread out the expense of necessary upgrades across a larger customer base. EPCOR officials predict an increase of $0.64 to $1.18 per Sonoran Water District customer, per month, if their consolidation request were to go through.

Some outside Rio Verde Foothills argued during the hearing that it isn’t fair for other customers to subsidize the cost burden of getting water to the community. But Loquvam said it’s the only way for the company’s plan to work — otherwise, their Rio Verde Foothills customer base might end up in a “death spiral.”

“If the rates are too high, customers abandon service from EPCOR, which may very well happen no matter what,” he said. “And then there’s fewer and fewer customers available to contribute to the cost of the standpipe, causing an even higher price for those customers remaining.”

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