PURA probes Hazardville Water Company late‑file rate exhibits; staff orders supplements on legal, tax and project support

Interim Chairman Tom Wheel presided over a late‑file hearing on Hazardville Water Company’s request to amend its rate schedules, pressing the company for documentation to support several late exhibits and accounting changes.

The hearing focused on a cluster of evidentiary gaps staff said are material to the company’s revenue request. Authority program staff asked the company to supply invoices and returns to justify an increase in estimated legal expenses from roughly $84,000 in the original filing to $150,000 in a late exhibit; company witness Jennifer Wright said unbilled legal work and higher-than-expected attorney fees explain the difference and that legal fees to date are about $77,000 with another $70,000–$75,000 anticipated. Chair Wheel directed the company to supplement the record with supporting invoices and the basis for the unbilled estimate.

Staff also challenged tax and historic‑project support. Bakari, questioning the company’s late filings, asked for sales and use tax returns tied to specific Excel rows cited in LFE‑3; staff said the company must file those tax returns so the authority can confirm the pro forma entries. The company agreed to provide the returns as a supplement.

The panel spent significant time reviewing past rate‑case treatment of a 2007 water‑supply plan item (roughly $14,311) and its amortization. Staff noted a $2,862 annual amortization line appears to have been included in a prior…