Puhi Sewer and Water Company, Inc. will hold a public hearing January 15 at Kukui Grove Park on Kalepa Street in Lihu‘e at 1 p.m. relating to proposed rate increases for its customers. All residents on the Kukui Grove side
Puhi Sewer and Water Company, Inc. will hold a public hearing January 15 at Kukui Grove Park on Kalepa Street in Lihu‘e at 1 p.m. relating to proposed rate increases for its customers.
All residents on the Kukui Grove side of Nawiliwili Road, including residents of Halelani, Uleko, and Puleko housing developments, west to Puhi Road, will be affected. All businesses in that area, including Kukui Grove, will be affected as well.
The proposed rate increase, which has to go before the Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission for approval, is to stem a tide of losses for almost ten years.
Puhi Sewer and Water Company “has been losing money since 1994,” said Sandra Day, Chief Financial Officer for Grove Farm and its subsidiaries. Grove Farm Properties, Inc., is the parent company of Puhi Sewer, she said.
“All we have asked for is less than a percent return, so (the company) can operate just barely in the black,” she added.
With the proposed changes, the company could finally meet operating costs, with a .06 percent return, she said.
The proposed changes would raise monthly service charges for a residential customer from $34 to $74.
The industrial rates to be raised are the minimum monthly service charge from $77 to $174, and the sewer charge consumption rate from $3.25 per 1,000 gallons of metered domestic water consumption, to $7.3606 per 1,000 gallons.
The commercial minimum monthly service charge rates would rise from $105 to $174.39, and the sewer consumption charge would go up from $1.95 per 1,000 gallons to $4.4164 per 1,000 gallons of metered domestic water consumption.
Golf course irrigation of $.50 per every 1,000 gallons of metered domestic water consumption would remain unchanged.
