Rate hikes in electricity, water and sewer bills on tap in Wallingford

As published online at MyRecordJournal.com

By Mary Ellen Godin
Record-Journal staff
mgodin@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2255

WALLINGFORD — Property owners can expect rate hikes in their electricity, water and sewer bills this summer to help pay for operational costs, wages and system improvements.

“We cannot continue to provide the level of services without this increase,” Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said Monday when revealing the town’s 2012-2013 budget.

Electric Division customers will see a 0.6 percent rate increase, which translates into about $1.63 per month for a homeowner using 750 kilowatt hours. The division is also hiring an energy conservation specialist and maintenance electrician.

The Electric Division’s operation expenses increased 0.9 percent. Capital expenses increased 3.9 percent to spend $3.5 million toward a five-year capital improvement plan.

Water customers can expect to see a 3.5 percent rate increase, from $3.21 to $3.34 per 100 cubic feet, that is expected to raise revenues by 6 percent. For the average customer who uses about 5,500 gallons per month, that’s a change of 95 cents per month or $2.86 per quarter, said George Adair, director of public utilities.

According to Dickinson, the increases include some contractual wage increases. The bulk of the $1.6 million capital improvement budget includes $849,306 for transmission and distribution, and water main work on five streets.

Sewer rates will climb 10.3 percent and are expected to increase revenues by 14.2 percent. For an average user of about 5,500 gallons of water per month, that translates to $4.29 per month or $12.87 per quarter. Operating expenses increased 4.1 percent but employee pay raises are not included in this year’s budget.

Roughly half of the increase, or $6.44 per quarter, is the first installment of three to help pay for a $350,000 study that looks at sources of inflow and infiltration into the wastewater treatment plant. If the town reaches more than 90 percent of the 8 million gallon capacity, it is required to do a facility study and the implied purpose is to upgrade or increase the capacity.

“Obviously that’s not good economy,” Adair said. “This is a series of rate changes approved last summer. This is the third in a series of four.”

A preliminary study done three years ago revealed problems with private hookups from a home tap, roof, foundation drain and/or sump pump.

“That’s the sort of unwanted extra flow,” Adair said. “The problem is coming from the private side. We want to address this, we’ve made some investment, sampled some typical basins to characterize the problem. We have a good knowledge of where they are. It’s a proactive approach. But we’re not unique at all.”

Electric users will see the increase in their July bills. Water and sewer increases will show up in June.

Town utilities are user-supported, not taxpayer subsidized, and any rate increase hurts residents during an anemic economy that has seen lost jobs, stagnant wages and rising costs, according to town councilors. But most of them agree they’re justified.

“We can say we don’t like them but if the increase is due to expenditures, there isn’t a lot we can do,” said Town Councilor Jason Zandri, a Democrat. “I did notice they made upgrades to the plants.”

Town Councilor Nicholas Economopoulos, also a Democrat, said rate increases hurt those in the community still facing uncertain times and those living on fixed incomes.

“This is a bad time to have one, with mill rate increases, utility increases,” Economopoulos said. “There are people who are really concerned about this.”

Town Councilor Craig Fishbein said that while the increases are unpleasant, they are necessary.

“We have stuff coming down the pike and they’re looking to boost reserves,” Fishbein said.

Blackout business booming in Wallingford

As published in the Record Journal, Wednesday November 2, 2011

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff

WALLINGFORD — With large portions of Meriden, Southington and Cheshire still without power Tuesday after Saturday’s snowstorm, business was booming in Wallingford, where all but a few homes and businesses have their electricity back.

On Tuesday morning, more than 80 percent of Meriden remained without power, but as travelers on Route 5 crossed the Wallingford line, they saw working traffic lights, open businesses and long lines.

At the Dunkin’ Donuts at 1101 N. Colony Road, drive through traffic was backed up all the way to the road and the parking lot was full. Inside the restaurant, customers waited in a line that snaked throughout the lobby.

Victoria Brady, of Meriden, said she’s been without power since Saturday.

“And probably until the end of the week,” she added.

Brady saw the long line at the drive-through, and said she would rather wait inside the warm restaurant than outside in her car.

Throughout the outage, Brady said, she’s been stopping to get food “wherever I can find a place.”

While many customers without power were happy to find a place to get a hot meal or a cup of coffee, commuters on their way to work and regular customers were shocked by the increase in volume.

Lui Nobrega, of Wallingford, said he’d “never seen it this packed” at the North Colony Road Dunkin’ Donuts. Nobrega stopped at another Dunkin’ Donuts in town and turned away because of the line. Shortly after he entered his second Dunkin’ Donuts of the morning, he saw another extended line, turned around and left.

“It’s not happening,” he said. Jackie Branco, who works in Wallingford, also turned away from the North Colony Road Dunkin’ Donuts because of the long line.

“There’s lines like this all over, anywhere that’s serving breakfast,” she said.

Branco said she still had power at her Naugatuck home, so she didn’t mind a little inconvenience in her morning routine.

Maria Kyriakis, co-owner of Neptune House Restaurant and Diner, at 1086 N. Colony Road, said the restaurant has been “very busy” since the storm and she and her husband, Chris, were working around the clock.

“We’ve had people from Meriden, Cheshire, Southington, all the places that have been out,” she said.

The restaurant had extra employees working and was ordering extra supplies.

Kyriakis said her staff was trying to strike a balance between handling all the new customers as well as the regulars.

“The people we know, they’re like family,” she said. “We can only do so much. We’re trying the best we can.”

At Duchess Restaurant, at 124 Church St., Meriden resident Bob Martin was in a crowd of people stopping by for something to eat Tuesday morning. Martin said he had been without power since Saturday night at 11 p.m. Martin, who works in Wallingford, said he had made trips to other towns several times for gas and food.

“Pretty much only Wallingford has power,” he said. “About the only thing open in Meriden is the McDonald’s.”

Everywhere in the area he had been that had power was crowded.

“The lines are unbelievable,” he said.

At Holiday Cinemas, at 970 N. Colony Road, visits to the theater were up.

“It’s been a little crazy,” said Naomi Corso, a manager. “It’s more like what we see on the holidays.”

Corso said residents without power were coming to the movie theater to warm up, and with all local schools closed Tuesday many families with kids were stopping by.

“ ‘Puss in Boots’ sold out,” she said, referring to the children’s movie about a sword wielding cat.

Wallingford Electric Division, the municipal utility that covers the town, reported only 4,000 outages of the town’s 25,000 ratepayers at the peak of the storm. In a statement, the utility said it expected to restore power to all but 100 customers by midnight Tuesday. There is no estimate for when power will be restored completely.

By comparison, peak outages topped 24,000 in Meriden, 13,000 in Southington and 10,000 in Cheshire. Connecticut Light & Power Co., which covers the three municipalities, had not provided an estimated time for complete restoration as of Tuesday.

Wallingford Electric Division outshines the big boys

As published in the Record Journal Tuesday November 1, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — As larger electric companies in the state continue to report record-breaking power outages after the weekend snowstorm, Wallingford’s Electric Division has kept the lights on for most of its customers and has made the town something of an oasis for other communities without power.

The storm has been called far more severe and unexpected than Tropical Storm Irene in August, and Wallingford residents once again fared better than those of Connecticut Light & Power, which was working Monday to restore power to 60 percent of its customers, or 753,289 households statewide. At the height of the storm, about 4,000 customers of Wallingford’s public utility were without power; that number had been reduced to Monday morning, just 4 percent of the Electric Division’s 25,000 ratepayers.

Director of Public Utilities George Adair said there’s no secret to the division’s success, but he credited some of it to ongoing efforts to upgrade electric poles and aging hardware. Trees that could pose problems are also trimmed on a four-year cycle, he said, but he said he’s not certain that other utility companies don’t do the same thing.

“From the standpoint of the system itself, I think it’s well maintained,” he said. “I don’t think it’s necessarily unique. You start with the primary stuff and work your way out. We were fortunate in that we still have transmission service and we haven’t lost our ability to receive energy.”

The division buys its power from the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative, but it is not a member. The cooperative, based in Norwich, provides electricity to more than 66,000 customers throughout the state.

Being in one of the few area towns with power has its advantages for some business owners.

Ray Porto and his grandson, Tom, were a busy duo on Monday at the Citgo service station at 480 N. Colony Road. Ray Porto said he’s owned the station for 65 years and would likely run out of gas today if his delivery was late.

With cars lined up and down the road to the station’s lot and blocking the bay doors, he was unable to open his garage to get cars in for service or get fixed cars out.

“This is unbelievable. I never went through what I’m going through right now,” he said. “People just want to get in here because they don’t want to run out of gas.

Tom Porto, working the counter, said he had customers drive from as far as Canton for gas for their cars and generators.

“I’ve never seen it like this,” he said. “We quadrupled our business, at least.”

Division officials said they hoped to get outages below 500 before the end of the day Monday. Crews from Groton Utilities helped Wallingford workers through Public Power Mutual Aid.

CL&P customers in Southington experienced 12,512 outages, or about 64 percent of the town. Almost all of Cheshire’s 11,236 customers — 92 percent, or 10,421 customers — were without power. Meriden also experienced widespread outages. As of Monday afternoon, 24,377 out of 27,670 customers had no electricity, according to the CL&P website.