History of Tennessee American Water Company (TAWC) Rate Increases
- On March 14 2008, TAWC filed a request for a rate increase of 20.58 percent.
- In May 2007, the Tennessee Regulatory Authority approved 12.3 percent of the 2006 request.
- In November 2006, TAWC filed a request for a rate increase of 19.7 percent.
- TAWC has consistently asked for exorbitant rate increases over the past several years and received generous increases during those same periods of time.
- The filing by the Consumer Advocate’s division, which is part of the Tennessee attorney general’s office, also states that if Tennessee-American’s latest request for a 20.58 percent increase is approved, the water utility’s rates will have gone up nearly 45 percent since August 2003. The latest rate request is the company’s fourth in six years.
TAWC and American Water Rate Increase Patterns
- TAWC's latest rate increase was filed just one year after it received its last double-digit rate increase, reflecting a strategy of seeking frequent, large rate increases year after year.
- TAWC parent company, foreign-owned American Water, has been systematically raising rates for the majority of its customers in the 32 states in which it owns water companies.
- In the first three months of this year, American Water reports that it filed rate applications in New Jersey, California, Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri, requesting approximately $231.1 million in increased annualized revenues. On May 30 of this year, American Water sought another $14.7 million in revenue in West Virginia.
- According to American Water’s first quarter 2008 financial report, the company’s revenue increased 8.2 percent to $508.8 million. This rise in operating revenues was “due primarily to rate increases.”
Defending the Indefensible
Published in the Chattanooga Times Free Press on April 3, 2007, a story about the Tennessee American Water Company's request for a rate hike highlighted key information about TAWC and their history. The 19.7 proposal was called "preposterous and a textbook example of corporate greed," and revealed how TAWC failed to make a case for the rate increase. Click here to view the entire article.
Contact the Tennessee Regulatory Authority and elected officials today. Discourage them from approving the proposed rate increase and demand that pattern of rate increases be stopped.