Guilford water district to file for rate increase

GUILFORD – Guilford-Sangerville Water District trustees plan to file for a rate increase in March with the Public Utilities Commission.

The 27.5 percent increase will follow a 19 percent increase that became effective in January 2004. Consumers can learn about the need for the increase and comment at a public hearing to be planned later this year. Unless the PUC is petitioned to investigate the need for the increase, the new rates are expected to take affect this summer.

An average family now paying about $50 a month for water will see an increase of about $14 a month, according to Tony Davis, acting chairman of the trustees.

Trustees could have asked for a larger increase in 2004 but tried to get by with a smaller increase to keep the water rates down, Davis said Thursday.

The need for more funds is driven in part by the unanticipated rising costs of electricity, the reduced use of water by Interface Fabrics because of in-house changes, and water main changes required during recent state road and bridge improvement projects, according to the official.

Davis said the trustees have worked hard to upgrade the water system, and most of the improvements were funded by federal and state grants, which required local matching funds.

“We won’t have any major work in the near future,” because of the system upgrade Davis said.

When the district installed a water main several years ago to the Saulter Plant, part of Interface Fabrics, the main was buried about seven feet underground, as is typical. That was before any engineering was conducted for the new road reconstruction project, Davis said.

Since then, the road was reconstructed and the hill lowered, which left the water main about two feet underground, he said. The water district had to lower the main at a cost of about $40,000, he said.

In addition, when the bridge was replaced over the Piscataquis River, the bridge was higher than anticipated, so the pipes had to be raised accordingly, Davis said.