Aqua Ohio proposes 4-year rate agreement to fund $40M in local water improvements

Aqua Ohio representative Jennifer Johnson told the City of Struthers’ public utilities committee that the company and local municipalities have negotiated a four-year rate agreement that would take effect Jan. 1, 2026, and run through Dec. 31, 2029. The plan would fund roughly $40,000,000 in capital improvements and raise a typical residential bill by about $12 a month by the end of the four-year period.

Why it matters: The agreement is the local alternative to a Public Utilities Commission of Ohio rate case. Using locally negotiated agreements allows Aqua and the municipalities it serves to coordinate a capital improvement plan and spread costs over multiple years without the time and expense of a PUCO filing while remaining subject to Ohio EPA and PUCO oversight.

Johnson said the prior local rate agreement, negotiated in February 2021, had included a promise to invest at least $28,000,000; after the current term ends, Aqua will have invested “over $33,000,000” locally. She said the company initially requested 5.5% annual increases but reached a negotiated package that averages approximately 5.05% in the first year and 5.25% in subsequent years, with the monthly impact to a 3,900-gallon residential customer amounting to under $4 in the first year and rising to about $12 a month cumulatively across four years.

Aqua’s capital priorities named in the presentation include replacement of lead service lines across older neighborhoods, continued upgrades to the treatment plant that serves roughly 24,000 customers in the rate plan, and a large dam project. “The spillway at Hamilton Dam needs upgraded,” Johnson said, calling it an Ohio Department of Natural Resources requirement and estimating that design and construction will be about $9,000,000.

Johnson said the company typically budgets $9 million to $12 million annually for capital work; a $9 million dam project would take a large share of a single year’s budget, so the negotiated multi-year plan is intended to allow flexibility across years. She also pointed out that as a private utility Aqua pays property taxes on its buried and other assets and that those taxes amounted to more than $11,000,000 to Mahoning County over the last four years.

Next steps and formalization: Johnson said the negotiations produce an informal agreement; municipalities implement the rates by passing local ordinances or township resolutions and then the company files the rates as part of its tariff with the Public Utilities Commission. At the City of Struthers finance meeting an ordinance establishing rates for Aqua Ohio Inc. effective 01/01/2026 through 12/31/2029 was introduced and a motion was made to bring it out for consideration. Council members and township trustees who participated in the July 29 negotiations are expected to approve corresponding legislation before the end of the year.

Discussion vs. decision: Committee discussion focused on balancing customer affordability with the scope of capital work; no final legislative adoption occurred in the presentations reviewed at the meeting. The ordinance to enact the rates was introduced at the finance meeting and advanced for further consideration.

What remains uncertain: The precise sequence and dates for each municipality’s ordinance adoption and the final PUCO tariff filing schedule were not specified at the meeting.