‘Corporate greed in the most extreme’: Boise residents oppose 24% rate hike for water

Several perplexed Boise residents complained of corporate greed at a Monday hearing and urged the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to deny a request from Veolia to substantially raise rates for its water services.

“It’s not like we can choose where we go and get our water,” said Tabitha Fuerstenau, a Veolia customer, during a public hearing at the PUC’s office. “The people of Idaho are already struggling.”

Veolia, the world’s largest supplier of water services, proposed a general rate increase of 24.1% for its 260,000 Idaho customers in September.

The request can be approved, rejected or modified by the PUC. If it’s approved as-is, residential customers would see an average increase of $7.59 on their monthly bills, or about 25 cents per day. Rates for commercial customers would increase by an average of $27.92 a month, and $25.46 for public authorities.

Veolia spokesperson Madeline Wyatt previously equated the increase with the cost of a cup of Starbucks in an interview with the Idaho Statesman.

“It’s a quarter a day (for residential). It’s a cup of Starbucks a month that we’re talking about,” Wyatt told the Statesman by phone. “The 24% sounds like a huge amount of money, but for the average residential customer, it’s $7 a month.”

If the request is approved, Veolia’s revenues would increase by $12.1 million per year. The company operates more than 1,300 miles of underground water mains across the Treasure Valley.

Fuerstenau, a longtime Simplot employee with an accounting degree, spoke about Veolia’s financial statements and how the company reported “historic results” upon emerging from the global pandemic. Fuerstenau also testified about her disabled sister, who is on Social Security and receives less than $1,000 per month.

She said her sister lives with her grown children because she can’t afford to pay rent in the Boise area.

“It’s not a big deal when you are a person who has. It is a big deal when you’re a person who does not have,” Fuerstenau said of the proposed rate hike. “There are people in southwest Boise who go tonight to get food boxes.”

Steve Kisley, an 83-year-old Avimor resident with Parkinson’s disease, told the PUC he came to the hearing with his son-in-law just to listen, but when he heard Veolia was requesting a rate hike of 24.1%, he felt compelled to testify. Kisley moved to the region to be with family during his last stages of life.

“Hearing the numbers that are put out by the people here — it’s an increase that seems a whim. That’s unheard of,” Kisley. “Big money always gets big money, but I don’t have big money. For people like us who are on a fixed income … I can’t go out and bring that into the budget.”

Veolia, based in France, said in a customer notice that it made a slew of expensive investments in the Treasure Valley’s water quality over the past two years, including replacing old pipes, building storage tanks and upgrading treatment plants.

The company said the additional revenue the rate increase provides would help recoup $70 million it spent on those improvements.

It listed some of its largest capital projects in a news release about the rate case.

Veolia acquired Suez, previously the Boise area’s largest water supplier, in a $15.4 billion merger in early 2022, according to reporting by the Statesman. Suez bought the parent company of United Water Idaho in 2000 and formally rebranded it in 2015. United Water Idaho was the successor to Boise Water Works, which began serving Boise in 1890.

Joel Festerly, a Boise resident and Veolia customer, said at the hearing that water rates are already high and he worries about how the proposed hike would affect families and businesses.

“There’s a lot of us that aren’t doing really well,” Festerly said. “And when I think about raising my children and having to get on them, like my parents did, like: ‘Hey, shut that water off. Hey, don’t play in the sprinklers. Hey, who left the water running?’ The idea of having to regulate what days your kids play on the Slip ‘N Slide — that’s a little bit much but I think that’s a reality for a lot of us.”

The city of Boise, Ada County, Micron and former Ada County Commissioner Sharon Ullman have filed petitions to intervene in the rate case, indicating they have a stake in the outcome.

Ullman and the deputy prosecuting attorney for Ada County were in attendance at Monday’s hearing.

This is the first time Veolia has filed for an increase, but its predecessor, Suez, last filed a request in July 2020 to increase rates by 22.3%, according to PUC spokesperson Adam Rush.

The request from Suez was approved in April 2021, but at a much lower rate — 8.75% over two years. It raised an additional $3.9 million in revenue, instead of the $10.2 million the company originally sought. By the time the request was approved, Veolia had purchased 30% of Suez shares.

LeeJoe Day, a former customer of Veolia, told the Statesman he moved to Boise in 1999 and got a job at Eagle Water Company laying pipe and reading meters. He later worked for Suez.

Day said he believes utility companies do “what every good negotiator does” and start negotiations off with a substantially high number so the other party is more likely to meet them in the middle.

“I find it to be corporate greed in the most extreme,” Lay said. “When you own a monopoly, you can charge whatever you want.”

Rush told the Statesman after the hearing that, in addition to the residents who testified in person, about 55 people have left written comments on the PUC’s website. The deadline to submit comments for the record is April 7.

The utilities commission is holding a technical hearing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 4 at its office at 11331 W. Chinden Blvd., Building 8, Suite 201-A in Boise for the parties involved in the case to present witnesses, testimony and exhibits. To watch the technical hearing online, visit idahogov.webex.com and enter meeting number 2450 028 9817. The password is April4Hearing.

To listen over the phone, call 1-415-655-0001 and enter meeting number 2450 028 9817.

Boise water company looks to raise rates 24%, cites improvements. Public to get its say

What new report says about Idaho’s worsening housing shortage for those who need it most

Eagle Road pedestrian bridge had ‘humble beginnings.’ It’s now a $3.2M project