If you received your water/sewer bill since Sept. 1, you are already aware that, once again, the Water Department and the Philadelphia Water Rate Board’s advocate have agreed to raise every bill by 9.4%. This was not the first, second, or even third rate increase negotiated by the rate board’s advocate, in secret, raising everyone’s bills.
The deals have been so favorable to the Water Department that it has not had to make any changes to its operations. It continues as if the rate increases are not a tremendous burden on everyone who does not qualify for the low-income plan, but is struggling to keep up with the cost of living. The Water Department has refused to hire a consultant to find cost savings.
Ten years ago, the average water bill was $67.43. Over the years, the bill has gone up by 33%. Perhaps if it were only the water bill, the increase wouldn’t be such a burden, but it’s not. Philadelphia Gas Works, the other municipally-owned utility, has just announced a settlement that will allow it to raise rates by $62 million, representing an 8% rate increase.
The City of Philadelphia’s members of the SEPTA board voted to raise fares by 21.5%. The City of Philadelphia took no action to stop PECO’s 12.6% rate increase.
How did we get here? Water rate increase after increase after increase, all set by secret agreements between the advocate appointed by the Rate Board and the Water Department; then recommended to be put in place by the hearing examiner hired by the Board, and then approved by the Board itself, without a single public hearing on the settlement.
In the bad old days, water rates were set by the Water Commissioner. The Commissioner’s staff would recommend a rate increase; a hearing would be held, and then the Commissioner would decide whether his staff or the public was right. No surprise, after reducing a small amount from what his staff requested, the Commissioner would grant his own department the amount of the rate increase it wanted.
In 2013, fed up with the constant rate increases, a bill introduced by then-Council President Clarke and Councilperson Jones changed the rate-making procedure. It created an independent rate-making body. It passed in 2014. A “public advocate” was appointed by the board to represent the public interest. And here is where the problem starts.
Perhaps there is no better example in government of Lord Acton’s statement: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The public advocate contract was given to Community Legal Services by the Board. Community Legal Services assigned Robert Ballenger, Esq. as the lead attorney,
There was no requirement that Ballenger establish a client committee or even an advisory group. As a result, Ballenger was free to meet in private with the Water Department’s lawyers and agree to rate increases. There was and is no check on Ballenger’s power to make deals.
Hall Monitor recorded the Chairperson of the Water Rate Board, Sonny Popowsky, at a public meeting, admitting that there was no written review of Ballenger’s work, and that the public was never surveyed, in any form, to express their opinion on how well they believed Ballenger performed.
There has never been a public hearing to pick the public advocate. Nor to review the current one’s decisions to agree to consecutive rate increases.
Without any “checks and balances” on Ballenger’s power to agree to rate increases on behalf of the 500,000 water consumers, Ballenger has, with the Water Department, pushed through five consecutive rate increases. Some of them were called “rate adjustments,” but regardless of its name, they all raised rates.
Mr. Ballenger would have the public believe that what he does behind closed doors is in the best interest of the public. He would have the public believe there is no reason for him to answer to the public, no reason to have clients, to meet with community groups, or seek any input from the public when deciding how large an increase to agree to.
While Ballenger doesn’t answer to the public, he does answer to the chair of the Rate Board itself. It doesn’t matter what the public thinks of Ballenger, the continual rate increases, or the size of the rate increases. The only thing that matters in deciding if Ballenger is representing the public interest is what the rate board, which awards the contract to Mr. Ballenger’s law firm, thinks.
And that allows the Rate Board, appointed by the Mayor, who also appoints the Water Commissioner, to control the rate-making process. It was wrong when the Water Commissioner was able to set the rates, but how much better is this? Shouldn’t the public have a right to control its own public advocate?
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