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Rate Activity | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2024
Rate Activity [Abstract] |
Rate Activity | Note 11 – Rate Activity On October 9, 2024, Aqua New Jersey received an order from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities that was designed to provide an increase in water rates of $2,250 on an annual basis. The order also approved the recovery of customer-side lead service line replacement costs of $11,535, that have been deferred from April 2021 through June 2024, through the use of a customer surcharge over a three-year period. New rates went into effect on October 15, 2024. On September 12, 2024, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (“PAPUC”) issued an order approving the settlement agreement to the general rate case filed by the Company’s regulated natural gas operating subsidiary, Peoples Natural Gas, that allowed base rate increases designed to increase total annual operating revenues by $93,000 or 11.1%. At the time the rate order was received, the rates in effect included various surcharges and credits, such as the Distribution System Improvement Charges (“DSIC”) and Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) amortization credits totaling approximately $21,000 on an annual basis. The order also provided an annualized change in gathering and other operating revenues of approximately $3,000. Consequently the aggregate annual base rates increased approximately $111,000 as the DSIC was reset to zero, and the TCJA amortization credit, other surcharges and other operating revenues were adjusted. New rates went into effect on September 27, 2024. The order also approved the implementation of a weather normalization adjustment mechanism (WNA), which is applied to customer bills during the heating season of October through May each year. The weather normalization adjustment mechanism is designed to stabilize our residential and commercial customers’ distribution charges by adjusting billings based on temperature variances from average weather, which effectively decreases rates when the weather is colder than average, and increases rates when the weather is warmer than average. The Company expects the weather normalization adjustment mechanism to result in reduced earnings volatility during the heating season. On October 11, 2024, the Pennsylvania Office of the Consumers Advocate appealed this rate case to the Commonwealth Court. On September 12, 2024, the Company’s regulated water and wastewater operating subsidiary in Virginia, Aqua Virginia, received an order from the State Corporation Commission approving an increase in revenues by $5,490 or 23.8% on an annual basis. The Company implemented interim rates in February 2024 and will refund to customers the difference between interim and final approved rates. On May 23, 2024, Aqua Pennsylvania filed an application with the PAPUC designed to increase rates by $126,675 or 18.9% on an annual basis. The Company anticipates a final order to be issued by February 2025. On January 2, 2024, Aqua Illinois filed an application with the Illinois Commerce Commission designed to increase water and wastewater rates by $19,196 or 18.9% on an annual basis. On October 8, 2024, the Company received a recommended decision from the administrative law judge. The Company anticipates a final order to be issued by December 2024. On December 13, 2023, the Company’s regulated water and wastewater utility operating divisions in Ohio received an order from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio designed to increase operating revenues by $4,850 annually. New rates for water and sewer service went into effect on December 13, 2023. On September 28, 2023, the Company’s regulated water and wastewater operating subsidiary in Texas, Aqua Texas, received a final order from the Public Utility Commission of Texas approving infrastructure rehabilitation surcharges designed to increase revenues by $8,388 annually. The rates authorized on March 28, 2023 and implemented on an interim basis effective April 1, 2023 did not change with the final order. On June 5, 2023, the Company’s regulated water and wastewater operating subsidiary in North Carolina, Aqua North Carolina, received an order from the North Carolina Utilities Commission designed to increase rates by $14,001 in the first year of new rates being implemented, then by an additional $3,743 and $4,130 in the second and third years, respectively. In February 2023, the Company had implemented interim rates, based on an estimate of the final outcome of the order, and no refunds or additional billings are required for the difference between interim and final approved rates. During the first nine months of 2024, four of the Company’s water and wastewater utility operating divisions in Ohio implemented base rate increases designed to increase total operating revenues on an annual basis by $2,127. Further, during the first nine months of 2024, the Company implemented infrastructure rehabilitation surcharges designed to increase total operating revenues on an annual basis by $28,733 in its water and wastewater utility operating divisions in Pennsylvania and Illinois, and by $1,170 in its natural gas operating division in Kentucky.

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