Beulah facing water rate hike

The water company that serves 32 customers in the Beulah area has applied for a significant increase to its monthly rates, causing many local residents to express strong concerns to the Public Service Commission.

The change would increase the amount each customer of Beulah Land Water LLC pays by just under $200 per month – a 380% hike on the current rate.

According to the application, the 32 regular customers connected to the system pay $50 per month at this time. Beulah Land Water, owned by Lenn Island, has requested an increase to $240.06 per month, in exchange for an unlimited supply of water.

The company is also requesting authority to implement reconnection and transfer fees, as well as a $10,000 connection fee.

According to the application, Beulah Land Water lost $58,896 in 2022 and requires an increase of $92,182.42 to become financially healthy.

The EPA and Department of Environmental Quality have called for additional capital improvements, but these are not financially feasible at this time, according to the application.

These improvements include an elevated replacement tank or a ground-level replacement tank with booster station. The estimated cost is approximately $405,119 for the former or $232,876 for the latter.

The application has prompted numerous comments from customers.

A comment letter from the Beulah Land Estates Homeowners Association expresses concern that the only funds expended on infrastructure to the water system were extensions beyond the subdivision,

“in violation of governmental agencies’ permit criteria or without a permit at all”.

The association’s letter acknowledges there are problems with the existing tank due to corrosion, which has caused anxiety about the “possibility of a catastrophic rupture, leaving our community without water”. A new tank was to be installed in 2018, the letter says, but this has not been done.

The letter also claims that the tank has only been inspected and cleaned once – in 2003, with “a broom and vacuum cleaner” – and that Beulah Land Water has four “significant deficiency” notices from the EPA that have not been addressed.

“Mr. Island seems to have money to spend on new, un-permitted infrastructure, but has none to maintain or upgrade his existing system, even to comply with permit criteria or to avoid a possible tank failure,” states the letter, which ends by requesting that Beulah Land Water not be “rewarded” with a rate increase until all infractions and required upgrades have been addressed.

The majority of the comment letters come from customers of Beulah Land Water and most call the rate increase unreasonable. Many claim they are on fixed incomes or retired; one notes that the average water rate in Wyoming is $74 and this increase is “not realistic”.

The increase, says one letter, “would force us and many others to find another water supply alternative, which would also be cost prohibitive.” One commenter claims regret in purchasing his property as the “ongoing deficiencies of the water system will drastically reduce property values”.

The lack of maintenance and upgrades is another commonly expressed concern, including allegedly ignored violations found during EPA sanitary surveys.

“The EPA and DEQ have turned Mr. Island over to their enforcement divisions and now he is trying to get the existing homeowner[s] to pay for his past neglect,” states one letter.

Also mentioned repeatedly is Island’s alleged ownership of nearby acreage, which commenters claim he is planning to develop. Money has been spent on a water main for that development instead of the required upgrades to the current system, commenters claim.

Testimony from Anthony J. Omelas on behalf of the Office of Consumer Advocate suggests that the rate relief sought by Beulah Land Water “does not appear to be sustainable” and will not address lingering water pressure and aging infrastructure concerns; nor, he states, does it address or explain the ongoing regulatory dispute with the DEQ “related to the apparent disregard of system requirements imposed by DEQ as part of a system expansion that was undertaken by the owner back in 2017”.

As the current rate has been in effect since the system was developed and no longer reflects the costs of providing service, Omelas recommends a 130% rate increase, raising the amount to $115 per month.

Omelas also calls for an investigation into the condition of the company’s infrastructure and the regulatory dispute.

Beulah Land Water is a private culinary water company wholly owned by Island. It was started by his uncle and father and customers were accumulated as part of a residential subdivision they developed.

The system currently consists of a well and pump feeding a 42,000-gallon tank and a four-inch line with 32 one-inch services. The well and pump can provide 144,000 per day, which exceeds demand.

Beulah Land Water was formally recognized as a public water utility in 2022.

The Public Service Commission will hear the case on February 8 at its open meeting beginning at 1:30 p.m.