1 1 BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF OHIO - - - 2 3 In the Matter of the : Application of Aqua Ohio, : 4 Incorporated to Increase : Case No. 16-907-WW-AIR Its Rates and Charges for : 5 Its Waterworks Service. : 6 - - - 7 PROCEEDINGS 8 before Megan Janelle Addison, Attorney Examiner, 9 Thomas W. Johnson, Commissioner, at Harding High 10 School Community Room, 1500 Harding Highway East, 11 Marion, Ohio, called at 6:02 p.m. on Wednesday, 12 January 11, 2017. 13 - - - 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC. 222 East Town Street, Second Floor 23 Columbus, Ohio 43215-4620 (614) 224-9481 - (800) 223-9481 24 Fax - (614) 224-5724 25 - - - 2 1 APPEARANCES: 2 Whitt Sturtevant, LLP By Rebekah J. Glover, Esq. 3 The Key Bank Building, Suite 1590 88 East Broad Street 4 Columbus, Ohio 43215 5 On behalf of the Applicant. 6 Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel, Bruce J. Weston, Esq. 7 By Kevin F. Moore, Esq. Assistant Consumers' Counsel 8 10 West Broad Street, Suite 1800 Columbus, Ohio 43215-3485 9 On behalf of the Residential Utility 10 Consumers of Aqua Ohio. 11 City of Marion By Mark Russell, Esq. 12 Law Director 233 West Center Street 13 Marion, Ohio 43302 14 On behalf of the City of Marion. 15 ALSO PRESENT: 16 Edmund Kolodziej, Aqua Ohio Jeff LaRue, Aqua Ohio 17 Scott Ballenger, Aqua Ohio Peter Kusky, Aqua Ohio 18 Don Scott, Aqua Ohio John Ryan, PUCO 19 Jill Kocher, PUCO Kelly Mabra, PUCO 20 - - - 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 INDEX - - - 2 WITNESSES: PAGE 3 HEATHER THOMPSON Direct Testimony by Ms. Thompson 10 4 JOELLE DeFRANKS 5 Direct Testimony by Ms. DeFranks 16 6 JOSH DANIELS Direct Testimony by Mr. Daniels 20 7 JEFF GERRITSEN 8 Direct Testimony by Mr. Gerritsen 28 9 - - - 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 Wednesday Evening Session, 2 January 11, 2017. 3 - - - 4 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Let's go 5 ahead and go on the record. The Public Utilities 6 Commission of Ohio has assigned for public hearing at 7 this time and place Case No. 16-907-WW-AIR, being In 8 the Matter of the Application of Aqua Ohio, 9 Incorporated to Increase Its Rates and Charges for 10 Its Waterworks Service. 11 My name is Megan Addison, and I'm an 12 Attorney Examiner assigned by the Commission to hear 13 this case. Presiding with me tonight is Commissioner 14 Tom Johnson. 15 Commissioner Johnson, would you like to 16 say anything at this time? 17 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: Well, I just 18 wanted to say that my name is Tom Johnson, and I'm a 19 Commissioner with the Public Utilities Commission, 20 and there are a few of these hearings across the 21 State, and I'm -- I'm honored to be here tonight and 22 to hear from the people that are going to testify. 23 We are -- we have a staff and we -- you know, there's 24 five Commissioners. We have a staff. We are 25 independent of the staff as far as we listen to what 5 1 they have prepared for us. We -- we have our own 2 system of looking at -- looking at the cases, but, 3 you know, we're -- I might also just say real brief 4 about myself, I mean, I come to the Commission having 5 lived most of my life in southeastern Ohio, where -- 6 where there's lots of areas where we have rural water 7 supply, and I can just say firsthand, and I speak 8 with the -- as far as on behalf of the other 9 Commissioners, I mean, we know this is -- we know 10 water is important, and -- and that -- and we know 11 that this hearing is important, and we appreciate all 12 of you coming here this evening. 13 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you, 14 Commissioner Johnson. 15 Also with us today is Mr. John Ryan, 16 Commissioner Johnson's aide; Jill Kocher, who is from 17 our Public Affairs Department, she's right there in 18 the back; and Kelly Mabra, who is from our Service 19 Monitoring and Enforcement Division. She is right 20 over here at the table. 21 I'd also like to mention that we will be 22 available after tonight's hearing if anyone has any 23 questions they would like to ask regarding Aqua's 24 application or any other utility matter. We are 25 happy to assist you with any questions you may have. 6 1 Tonight's hearing is one of a series of 2 public hearings directed at receiving public 3 testimony regarding the requested rate increase. A 4 formal evidentiary hearing is scheduled to take place 5 at the offices of the Commission in Columbus on 6 Thursday, January 19th, 2017. 7 At this time we will take appearances of 8 the parties in this proceeding. 9 On behalf of the Applicant. 10 MS. GLOVER: Thank you, your Honor. 11 Thank you, Commissioner Johnson. On behalf of Aqua 12 Ohio, my name is Rebekah Glover, of the law firm 13 Whitt Sturtevant. 14 Also here on behalf of the Company is Ed 15 Kolodziej, Jeff LaRue, Scott Ballenger, Pete Kusky, 16 and Don Scott. 17 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you. 18 On behalf of the Ohio Consumers' 19 Counsel. 20 MR. MOORE: Thank you, your Honor, Mr. 21 Johnson. On behalf of the residential utility 22 consumers of Aqua Ohio, the Office of the Ohio 23 Consumers' Counsel, Bruce J. Weston, Ohio Consumers' 24 Counsel, by Kevin Moore. 25 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you. 7 1 On behalf of the City of Marion. 2 MR. RUSSELL: On behalf of the City of 3 Marion, Law Director Mark Russell. 4 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you, 5 Mr. Russell. 6 MR. RUSSELL: Thank you. 7 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: And I'd just 8 like to let the record reflect that there's no 9 counsel here this evening on behalf of the Commission 10 Staff. 11 Aqua Ohio filed its application on May 12 31st, 2016, seeking to increase its rate for water 13 service in the Lake Erie and Masury service 14 divisions, as well as the service divisions 15 consisting of all areas formally served by Mohawk 16 Utilities, Tomahawk Utilities, and the Ohio-American 17 Water Company. 18 By its application, Aqua seeks a rate 19 increase which would generate a 9.21 percent revenue 20 increase for its water service. The Commission Staff 21 report was issued on November 17th, 2016. The Staff 22 of the Commission recommends an approximate 4.91 to 23 7.32 percent increase over current revenues. The 24 Staff report is a recommendation only. The five 25 Commissioners, including Commissioner Johnson, may 8 1 implement some of those suggestions and choose to 2 reject others. 3 The purpose of this evening's hearing is 4 to receive comments from the public regarding Aqua 5 Ohio's application in this case. This is not 6 intended to be a question-and-answer session, but 7 instead is your opportunity to let the Commission 8 know what you think about the Applicant's request. 9 The local public hearings scheduled in 10 this case are just one aspect of the process. We 11 have another public hearing scheduled in Ashtabula, 12 Ohio tomorrow evening, and as I noted earlier, an 13 evidentiary hearing is also scheduled to commence on 14 Thursday, January 19th at the Commission's offices in 15 Columbus. 16 When you arrived, you were offered an 17 opportunity to testify. After I finish with my 18 introductory remarks, we will begin calling witnesses 19 forward in the order that you were signed up. I 20 would ask that you come up to the table and face the 21 court reporter and provide your testimony clearly and 22 as loudly as you can just to be sure that she gets 23 all of your remarks. 24 The testimony that you will be providing 25 this evening will be transcribed. I will ask you to 9 1 take an oath that the testimony you are about to give 2 is the truth. I will then ask you to state your name 3 and full address. Your testimony will be considered 4 part of the official record of this case and will be 5 reviewed by the Commission before they make their 6 final decision on this application. 7 Additionally, the parties to this case 8 and I will be permitted to ask questions regarding 9 your testimony. Should you decide that you do not 10 want to testify when your name is called, you may 11 simply pass. Also, once you're finished testifying 12 or if you're just here to observe, you are certainly 13 free to leave whenever you choose to do so. 14 As I previously mentioned, tonight's 15 testimony is being transcribed by a court reporter. 16 Please be sure to speak clearly and that you provide 17 a verbal response to all questions that may be asked 18 of you. If you brought a written copy of your 19 testimony, please be sure that you provide one for 20 the court reporter so that it can be included as part 21 of the record. 22 The Commission appreciates your 23 participation in tonight's proceeding, and we hope to 24 hear from everyone who would like to provide their 25 input; so, therefore, please try to keep your 10 1 comments to a reasonable length and try to be 2 respectful of others that are testifying. 3 At this time, if there are no questions, 4 we will begin with the witnesses who have signed up, 5 and just to clarify, do we have any questions 6 regarding the process for tonight's hearing? 7 (No response.) 8 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Okay. If 9 anything does come up during, feel free to just raise 10 your hand. Thank you. 11 When I call your name, if you could 12 please come forward, and I will swear you in. The 13 first name I have is Heather Thompson. 14 Thank you, Miss Thompson. Please raise 15 your right hand. 16 (Ms. Thompson was sworn.) 17 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you. 18 You may make your statement. 19 - - - 20 HEATHER THOMPSON, 21 being first duly sworn, as prescribed by law, 22 testified as follows: 23 DIRECT TESTIMONY 24 MS. THOMPSON: I apologize. I have a 25 cold. This is about as loud as I'm going to get. 11 1 Good evening. My name is Heather 2 Thompson, and I'm representing Ohio Heartland 3 Community Action Commission. We serve Marion, 4 Morrow, and Crawford Counties, and all of our clients 5 are at or below 175 percent of the Federal Poverty 6 Level. 7 I understand your service area only 8 covers two of our counties, Marion and Morrow County, 9 but the clients we serve have a difficult time paying 10 their water bills already without the possibility of 11 a rate hike. The 2017 cost of living increase of .3 12 percent in Social Security did little to nothing to 13 help our clients obtain additional funds to support 14 their households. Most of our clients saw their 15 raise get absorbed by an increase of their Medicare 16 premiums and a loss from their food assistance 17 amount. 18 We, as an agency, get multiple phone 19 calls a day from community members asking for 20 assistance with their water bills, whether it is 21 helping them to pay on a disconnect notice, enrolling 22 a client on PIPP, or helping them restore service 23 after you have shut them off. 24 In Marion County we used to receive 25 funds from Ohio-American Water Company through an 12 1 employee match contribution on a monthly or a 2 bimonthly basis to help our clients with their bills. 3 As an example, from January 2010 to April 2013 we had 4 received $32,553.08 and helped 199 households with an 5 average bill of $163.58. This was before you bought 6 them out. Since our -- since your existence, we have 7 not received any funds at all and received poor 8 treatment from your customer service department when 9 we call on behalf of our clients. 10 In June 2016, Del-Co Water, which also 11 services our Morrow County area, increased their 12 rates, with the average bill only -- excuse me, only 13 increasing 54 cents, to $37.98, per their website. 14 Their minimum bill starts at $11.85, with the first 15 1,500 gallons included. Your minimum bill is $13.50 16 plus the water rate of one -- I'm sorry, .0101625 per 17 gallon. If you multiply that rate by the 1,500 18 gallons that is included in Del-Co's minimum rate, 19 that brings your minimum bill to $28.74; so as you 20 can see, you are already charging customers over 21 twice as much on their bills, and that is even before 22 the rate hike, according to your website. 23 As a social service provider, we do 24 business with PUCO regulated utilities every day, 25 from Ohio Edison, Columbia Gas, and AEP. They offer 13 1 our clients opportunities throughout the year to get 2 assistance with their bills in the form of payment 3 plans such as PIPP, the One-Ninth Plan, the One-Sixth 4 Plan, and the One-Third Plan, or through grants such 5 as the First Energy Fuel Fund, Ohio Fuel Fund, 6 Columbia Gas Fuel Fund, and Neighbor to Neighbor. 7 They also offer the Winter Reconnect Order from 8 October 19th, 2016, to April 14th, 2017, which allows 9 a client to start service, reconnect service, or stop 10 a disconnect for a maximum amount of $175 and allows 11 the client to make payment arrangements on any 12 remaining balance. 13 After reviewing your website, I was 14 unable to find any similar programs that your company 15 offers to help our community. However, your 16 financial statement showed that you had an increase 17 each quarter of last year, excluding the fourth 18 quarter, which you are not releasing conveniently 19 until after all of the public hearings, as compared 20 to same quarters of 2015. If your company would 21 absorb your increases for the year, all three million 22 of your customers in all of your service territories 23 would benefit by the need to not increase the monthly 24 rates. Also, following in line with other 25 PUCO-regulated utilities by offering payment plans or 14 1 financial grants would allow customers to have a 2 chance to get caught up on their bills and would be 3 truly beneficial for all. 4 The three necessities of life are food, 5 water, and shelter, and as a company, you make it 6 very difficult for your customers to receive or 7 maintain one of these basic necessities. An increase 8 of $3 to $6 per month in our bill would cause people 9 to have to possibly choose between their prescription 10 medication, food on their table, health care, fuel in 11 their tank, or having to postpone paying another one 12 of their utility bills to ensure that they can 13 maintain their water service. As a company, you have 14 a responsibility to ensure that every one of your 15 customers has access to this basic necessity, and 16 they shouldn't have to sacrifice other essentials in 17 order to have it. I think that you need to look into 18 your own practices to figure out why you charge twice 19 as much as surrounding water companies in your 20 existing rates and work on mimicking their 21 infrastructure to reduce your rates to more 22 comparable rates. 23 Ohio Heartland Community Action is a 24 not-for-profit business that has to function on a 25 very tight budget with strict regulations on what we 15 1 can spend our money on, just like our clients who 2 have to function on a tight budget or within the 3 limits of their income. There is no reason why your 4 company should be any different. We can't pass along 5 any short company -- we cannot pass along any 6 shortcomings in our budget to our clients, and our 7 clients can't pass along any shortcomings in their 8 budgets to anyone else. Why should you be able to? 9 In conclusion, a monthly rate hike of 10 the magnitude that you're proposing would significant 11 hurt residents in Marion and Morrow County, and 12 without any options from your company to help offset 13 this increase, the damage will continue to grow 14 larger than it currently is, and agencies like us 15 will continue to have our hands tied in helping our 16 clients. Thank you. 17 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you, 18 Miss Thompson. Just one moment. I'm going to see if 19 they want to ask questions. 20 MS. THOMPSON: Sorry. 21 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: No. You're 22 fine. 23 Commissioner Johnson, do you have any 24 questions? 25 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: No. 16 1 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Aqua? 2 MS. GLOVER: No questions. 3 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: OCC? 4 MR. MOORE: No. 5 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: City of 6 Marion? 7 MR. RUSSELL: No. 8 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: There are no 9 questions. You are excused. 10 MS. THOMPSON: Thank you. 11 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you so 12 much. 13 (Witness excused.) 14 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: The next 15 name on the list is Joelle DeFranks. 16 Hi, Miss DeFranks. Please raise your 17 right hand. 18 (Ms. DeFranks was sworn.) 19 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you. 20 - - - 21 JOELLE DeFRANKS, 22 being first duly sworn, as prescribed by law, 23 testified as follows: 24 DIRECT TESTIMONY 25 MS. DeFRANKS: Okay. My name is Joelle 17 1 DeFranks. I'm just a person that lives in town. 2 Excuse me. I looked up some information on the 3 Internet about Aqua America, and Aqua Ohio is one of 4 the subsidiaries of Aqua America. Aqua America is in 5 numerous states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, New 6 Jersey, Illinois, Texas, Indiana, Virginia, and 7 Florida. I looked up Aqua's 2012 yearly report, just 8 when they were getting ready to purchase 9 Ohio-American Water, and I was going to read a few 10 excerpts from what I found. 11 First, this was February 25th, 2013. It 12 says for the, "Full Year 2012 Earnings: Net Income 13 Gross 37 percent," and then it says, "Aqua America 14 has paid a consecutive quarterly dividend for more 15 than 65 years." Also, it says, "The ongoing tax 16 accounting change, which was approved in the 2012 17 Pennsylvania rate order, allows Aqua Pennsylvania to 18 continue its infrastructure improvement program 19 without increasing customer rates in 2013 and still 20 maintain the company's strong financial performance." 21 "The company projects a similar amount 22 to be invested in 2013 on numerous projects: Pipe 23 replacement to improve our distribution network; 24 plant upgrades to enhance water quality; and service 25 reliability improvements for our customers, much of 18 1 which will be eligible for a tax deduction under the 2 recently implemented repair tax accounting change." 3 It also says, "We believe that the use 4 of this cash providing tax policy is a 'win-win' for 5 customers and shareholders as the rate order should 6 allow Aqua Pennsylvania to continue its 7 infrastructure improvement program without increasing 8 customer rates in 2013, while still providing the 9 company with the opportunity to continue its 10 profitable performance," said DeBenedictis. 11 Okay. Then I was wondering if this same 12 ongoing tax accounting change as stated in 13 Pennsylvania, could it not be made to work in Ohio? 14 Why would they have to have an increase here where 15 they had some kind of an ongoing tax accounting 16 change? I don't know if the law is different here, 17 but it would certainly be well worth looking into. 18 And also, they had very good profits for 19 the first three quarters of 2016, which is when they 20 applied to increase. It says the -- let's see. For 21 the first quarter it said they had 2.3 million in 22 revenue and only .3 million in expenses. The second 23 quarter, which is interesting, they had an increase 24 5.1 million in revenue, and their expenses decreased 25 5.7 million. It should have been a good quarter. 19 1 And the third quarter they had 5.5 million revenue 2 and -- of increased revenue and increased expenses of 3 1.3 million. 4 So how much profit in expansion does one 5 water company need? Is it that they don't want -- is 6 it that they don't want competition? When does it 7 cross the line from profit to greed? And there is 8 what I looked up. It's all on the Internet. I don't 9 know if you want to keep this or not (indicating). 10 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: If you want 11 to leave it up here for the court reporter, that's -- 12 MS. DeFRANKS: Thank you. 13 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Miss 14 DeFranks, just one moment. 15 Did you have any questions? 16 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: No. 17 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Any 18 questions? 19 MS. GLOVER: No. 20 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: OCC, any 21 questions? 22 MR. MOORE: No, your Honor. 23 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: City of 24 Marion? 25 MR. RUSSELL: No. 20 1 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you, 2 Miss DeFranks. 3 (Witness excused.) 4 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: The next 5 name I have is Josh Daniels. 6 MR. DANIELS: Good evening. 7 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Good 8 evening. Please raise your right hand. 9 (Mr. Daniels was sworn.) 10 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you. 11 Please state your name. 12 - - - 13 JOSH DANIELS, 14 being first duly sworn, as prescribed by law, 15 testified as follows: 16 DIRECT TESTIMONY 17 MR. DANIELS: My name is Josh Daniels. 18 I'm a Marion City Councilman. I'm also an apartment 19 owner, so I represent the residents of Marion and 175 20 souls that live in our apartments. 21 I'm not here tonight to impugn the water 22 company. I'd like to open by saying -- 23 (Discussion off the record.) 24 MR. DANIELS: I won't open tonight by 25 impugning the water company and the people that I 21 1 work with every day in the street. They're 2 excellent. They didn't receive a 13-percent raise 3 this year as eight key executives of Aqua did, and I 4 don't envy those eight individuals that make up more 5 than $10 million in salary. That doesn't include 6 deferred gains on stocks or stock options. I simply 7 bring that to light because these eight key 8 individuals have one purpose in mind, and this is 9 why they're compensated, and I respect them for 10 that. They're compensated well because they bring 11 earnings to the table, to their shareholders. That 12 is their job. That is who they are beholding to, 13 and ethically, that is who they should be beholding 14 to. 15 I, as a councilman, am not beholding to 16 the shareholders of Aqua Ohio. It is imperative that 17 I ethically be beholding to the citizens of Marion 18 and, as a business owner, beholding to my clients. 19 That said, the level of compensation that they've 20 received directly reflects the profitability that 21 they've brought to Aqua Ohio. 22 I can too go to the Internet and give 23 you a number of statistics that will probably get 24 lost in translation, but let me put out a few. This 25 is from March 25th, 2015. It was their Definitive 22 1 Proxy Statement. This was issued to the Security and 2 Exchange Commission by Nick DeBenedictis, who is the 3 CEO and now chairman of Aqua. The market cap of 4 Aqua, and I believe he refers to the time frame of 5 1992 through '15, 2015, has increased from $150 6 million to 4.5 billion. These are the messages that 7 he is directly giving his shareholders in defense of 8 his position, looking out for their interest. He 9 furthermore tells them, we have increased quarterly 10 dividends 24 times, not only given a dividend, but 11 we've increased each dividend in the last 23 years 24 12 times. "We have had record earnings," quote, "record 13 earnings for the last 15 consecutive years." From 14 1992 to 2015 he states their return on shareholder 15 investment rose 1,700 percent. That is to say, and 16 again in his words, $1,000 invested in 1992 would be 17 worth 16,000 today. 18 In the last five years, from 2012 until 19 now, their share price has gone from $17 up to a high 20 in 2016 of 35. It's come back a little off of that. 21 I think today's close might have been 29. When you 22 look at a share's price, you look at trends. This 23 is -- you either plot each high over the course of 24 time, each low, or the average. That is to say that 25 in the last five years the annual return to 23 1 shareholders has exceeded 12 percent. I don't know 2 exactly what the fraction is, but it's exceeded 12 3 percent, according to those numbers. 4 When people invest in a public utility, 5 they do it with this in mind, they're looking for 6 surety. They are not looking for a 30 or a 40 or a 7 50 percent Internet bubble-type return that's 8 short-lived, and they're willing to take the risk 9 because of the profitability there, because there is 10 a correlation between risk and return. They do so 11 because in the states that utilities operate on, the 12 majority of which are monopolies, they use public 13 right-of-ways, they use public easements. Most of 14 the land that they operate on is publicly owned, and 15 they have never given compensation for that, but they 16 are monopolies just due to the structure. You 17 wouldn't have two water systems in a city running 18 side by side and then one tying into the other. So 19 investors involve themselves in this because they are 20 guaranteed a minimal return based upon the decisions 21 of the PUCOs in the states that these utilities 22 operate on. They don't expect 35 percent, but they 23 don't expect to lose any money. 24 So when you look at a 12-percent return, 25 considering -- if you took a senior citizen who has 24 1 worked their whole life, who might have a CD out 2 there or some money put into the bank, which right 3 now is a horrible place to keep your money, I would 4 recommend to them that they keep it in Aqua stock, to 5 be honest. If I were giving good financial advice to 6 one of my clients and I were a financial advisor, I 7 would say put it in Aqua stock. You're almost 8 guaranteed never to lose, and you're going to make 9 more than you do in the bank. You might even make 12 10 percent. 11 With that said, this is probably -- 12 aside from what I may or may not know about the 13 company, this is probably the most -- in my mind the 14 most definitive piece of evidence that the PUCO 15 should consider. It is -- it is difficult and 16 arduous to just really figure out what it costs to 17 treat water. How much should a glass or a gallon of 18 water really cost? Well, we can look at the bottom 19 line of Aqua and we can say they're making huge 20 amounts of money, so obviously the cost of producing 21 water is a lot less than what they're selling it for. 22 That was the argument I opened with. 23 The second argument would be a 24 comparison. Either they're making a whole lot of 25 money or they're the most inefficient water company 25 1 on the planet, and if it's the second, they should 2 not be rewarded. It's your own rate sheet. Former 3 Ohio-American Water customers, which we are, just a 4 real quick view, we're paying 40 percent more than 5 the lowest and 20 percent more than the second 6 highest. On their sheet, your sheet, we're -- we 7 pay more for water than anybody, and tonight, when I 8 had heard the first speaker state that Del-Co's water 9 was a minimal fee of a $11 and -- I believe it was 70 10 cents. 11 MS. THOMPSON: Fifty cents. 12 MR. DANIELS: Fifty cents. And that 13 included the first 2,500 gallons? 14 MS. THOMPSON: 1,500. 15 MR. DANIELS: 1,500. Thank you. Step 16 in anytime. I need your help. And then Aqua's was 17 13 but included no water. That's just so that you 18 might have that meter attached to your house. If you 19 go to Florida three months, you're still paying 13 20 bucks because you have a meter. 21 So that being said, if you took their 22 costs for the first 1,500 and added it, again she 23 says 28 -- that's a huge disparity between the 24 average water bill of what someone in Del-Co, just in 25 Morrow County pays and what we have here, and it's 26 1 not only the resident that gets stung with that. 2 They get stung in a number of ways. The economic 3 investment that is not made in Marion County due to 4 high utility rates, that person loses then, too. Not 5 only do they have a higher water bill than everyone 6 else, but they have a job opportunity that 7 potentially is lost because a factory decides to go 8 to Delaware County, which they have -- AHP is one. 9 That's not, I wouldn't say, Aqua's fault. All right. 10 Water rates are just one factor that companies make 11 in their big decision plan, but when utilities are 12 significantly more expensive in a high-water 13 consumption business such as an ethanol plant or a 14 car factory or anything like that, it tends to lean 15 them away from Marion; so we're not only paying the 16 highest water, but we're losing all the economic 17 opportunities that may or may not be lost due to high 18 utilities. 19 That's all I have. Thank you very much. 20 I appreciate it. 21 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you, 22 Mr. Daniels. One moment, Mr. Daniels. 23 MR. DANIELS: I'm sorry. 24 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: You're fine. 25 Any questions, Commissioner? 27 1 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: No. 2 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Any 3 questions? 4 MS. GLOVER: No. 5 MR. MOORE: No. Thank you, your Honor. 6 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you. 7 Any questions? 8 MR. RUSSELL: No. 9 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you, 10 Mr. Russell. 11 Thank you, Mr. Daniels. 12 (Witness excused.) 13 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: That 14 concludes the list of those that signed up prior to 15 the beginning of the hearing. At this time I'd like 16 to open up the floor for anyone who didn't have the 17 opportunity to sign up who would like to say 18 something. 19 Yes, sir. Yes, absolutely. I'll ask 20 you to raise your right hand. 21 (Mr. Gerritsen was sworn.) 22 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you. 23 Please state your name and address if you could. 24 - - - 25 28 1 JEFF GERRITSEN, 2 being first duly sworn, as prescribed by law, 3 testified as follows: 4 DIRECT TESTIMONY 5 MR. GERRITSEN: My name is Jeff 6 Gerritsen. My address is 1330 Montego Drive here in 7 the wonderful City of Marion. 8 I'd like to first thank Miss Thompson 9 and Mr. Daniels for the -- the information they 10 provided. I'm unprepared. This is the first time 11 I've ever been to a setting like this. 12 As a resident, you know, a 9.6 percent 13 increase in our water bill hurts. U.S. GDP was two 14 percent this year. I just got a measly three-percent 15 raise last week, and according to the testimony Mr. 16 Daniels' provided, some people are paid quite 17 handsomely. I don't have a problem with all that 18 stuff. What I do have a problem is this, a few years 19 ago -- I have three young children, and my wife and I 20 made the decision not to let them drink our water out 21 of our tap here in Marion, Ohio. Here's why -- we 22 use bottled water for just about everything now. One 23 night I left a crystal glass sitting on the counter 24 in my house, which we usually never do, when I woke 25 up the next morning and when I walked out to the 29 1 counter, there was an oily sheen on top of my water 2 that came out of my tap at my house. That alarmed 3 me. I'm usually pretty unmovable by things like 4 that, but when you have small children in the house 5 that are defenseless to what's coming out of our 6 taps, then you add that to I'm buying bottled water 7 to feed my children so they don't drink the water out 8 of the taps, then you add in the Dearborn or the 9 Flint, Michigan water problem and you start thinking 10 things through, then when you take the previous 11 testimony of how much money is being raked in by this 12 company, it's a little disconcerting to say the 13 least. 14 In an economy of supply and demand, I'll 15 pay the price if you're going to supply me with 16 something I can use for my children. If you're not 17 going to, let us invest in some company that will 18 give me some kind of quality product that I can take 19 out of the tap that I pay for at my house and give to 20 my family. 21 I'd like to end with, the OCC, I know 22 nothing about them, but you're asking for a 9.6 23 percent increase from the residents of this town to 24 give us water that if you leave it sit out for 24 25 hours it has an oily sheen on top of it. The OCC 30 1 says you should be getting a decrease of $1 to $2. I 2 know it's not a question-and-answer period, but I 3 would like to know why. Why is the OCC suggesting 4 a $1 to $2 decrease? Mr. Daniels' facts and figures 5 say that we're paying 20 percent more than a nearby 6 community for our water, and we can't even give it 7 to our kids healthy and consciously. That's all I 8 have. 9 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you 10 very much. 11 Did you have any questions, 12 Commissioner? 13 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON: I did not. 14 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Any 15 questions from the Applicant? 16 MS. GLOVER: No questions. 17 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: OCC? 18 MR. MOORE: No questions, your Honor. 19 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: City of 20 Marion? 21 MR. RUSSELL: No questions. 22 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you 23 all. 24 Thank you, sir. 25 (Witness excused.) 31 1 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Do we have 2 anyone else that would like to make a brief statement 3 that hasn't already had the opportunity to? 4 (No response.) 5 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: Okay. At 6 this time it's still relatively early in the evening. 7 I want to make sure, if there were some people that 8 maybe got off late at work and wanted to attend 9 tonight's meeting, that they had the opportunity to 10 make it. Let's go ahead and take a brief 15-minute 11 break, and we'll just see if anyone else new wants to 12 come in or if anyone sitting in the audience would 13 like to make a statement after that brief recess. 14 Thank you. 15 We're off the record. 16 (Recess taken.) 17 ATTORNEY EXAMINER ADDISON: We're going 18 to go ahead and go back on the record at this time. 19 I don't see anyone new that has come into the room 20 since we took our brief recess, very much the 21 opposite actually, but -- and I take that as no one 22 else would like to provide any additional testimony 23 this evening, so I will go ahead and provide some 24 concluding remarks. 25 All the testimony provided this evening 32 1 will be submitted on the record for the Commission's 2 consideration in this case. Staff and I will be here 3 for a while in case you have any questions about the 4 Commission's process or how to file additional 5 comments in this case. 6 As I mentioned before, if you have any 7 questions for the Commission's Staff, we will stay as 8 long as we need to in order to answer those 9 questions. Thank you again and have a nice evening. 10 Let's go off the record. 11 (Thereupon, the hearing was concluded at 12 6:52 p.m.) 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 33 1 CERTIFICATE 2 I do hereby certify that the foregoing 3 is a true and correct transcript of the proceedings 4 taken by me in this matter on Wednesday, January 11, 5 2017, and carefully compared with my original 6 stenographic notes. 7 ___________________________ 8 Valerie J. Sloas, Registered Professional Reporter and 9 Notary Public in and for the State of Ohio. 10 11 12 My commission expires June 10, 2021. 13 (VJS-82812) 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25