If you’ve followed the recent history of Illinois American Water Co. on this blog, you would know that recent rate case filings at the ICC (Illinois Commerce Commission) have been met with a whole lot of public opposition. The company has been attempting to increase its rates in virtually all of its subsidiary service areas, [...]
I came across an excellent paper on utility economics the other day during some internet research. The paper stands out for its focus on regulation of natural monopoly businesses, which specifically include water and sewer utilities. Natural monopolies are defined as an industry where a single firm can produce output to supply the entire market [...]
I recently gave an interview to writers at Waterwideweb.org. The resulting article is worth a good read, as are the comments.
Public Works magazine is one of many, perhaps the latest, reporting on the huge gap in funding between our water and sewer infrastructure needs and current annual spending. The problem isn’t new. Water and sewer infrastructure have been aging unabated for 50 years or more and its no surprise to anyone that water pipes, pumps, [...]
Just last year, we saw Indianapolis reach a new public-private partnership involving the sale of the city’s water and sewer utilities to a not-for-profit cooperative. Today there is news that the City of Nashua, located in New Hampshire, is set to acquire 100% of the capital stock of the Pennichuck Corporation in a deal that [...]
