MARK WAITE / PVT Utilities Inc. Regional Director Wendy Barnett discusses the company's plans during its recent public meeting here. Advertisement

Utilities Inc. of Central Nevada plans to apply for a new rate hike in December, but UICN Vice-President of Operations Paul Burris said at the semi-annual customer's informational meeting last week, he doesn't expect any rate increase to be "astronomical."

The last rate increase, filed in late 2006 and approved by the Public Utilities Commission in 2007, set up a tiered rate schedule to encourage water conservation.

People using less than 8,000 gallons per month pay 99 cents per 1,000 gallons. Above that the rate increases to $1.67 per 1,000 gallons up to 30,000 gallons, after which the fee per 1,000 gallons goes up to $2.54.

Utilities Inc. requested a 102 percent increase in 2006 and received permission to boost rates 87 percent. Some of that was to improve the system after the acquisition of Central Nevada Utilities from Preferred Equities Corp., Burris said.

State Senate Bill 86, passed in 2007, requires utilities with over $500,000 in gross revenues to file for a rate increase every three years,

"The reason that the PUC wants us to do it every three years is so we can't do massive capital improvements and come back and whammy you with a higher rate. They also want to look at it consistently -- have we done anything to change our expenditures so that they're lower?" Regional Director Wendy Barnett said.

But it was sewer rates -- specifically the fees-per-fixture count -- that raised the most controversy. Utilities Inc. officials indicated that fee could go away in the next rate change.

"We want to assure everybody that I don't think anybody is happy, including the utility, with the fixture count," Barnett said. "It's very labor intensive to us, and it's not fair to different individuals."

Snowbirds who only live in Pahrump part of the year may not use sewer service during the summer, Barnett said. It's also not representative of what goes into the sewer plant, she said.

Utilities Inc. began auditing sewer fixtures last year to get the best figures available for the PUC in the upcoming rate hearings, she said.

Warner Owens complained Utilities Inc. is driving people out of town with the rates. The owner of a local restaurant, Seemoore's Too!, blamed the sewer fixture fees as one of the reasons he closed his business in the Wheeler Springs Plaza Shopping Center on Highway 160.

"It is a bad economy, a lot of people are having trouble. It's not our fault. It's not (Valley Electric's). It's a bad time. What you're talking about are fixture counts, and those fixture counts and those rates have been in effect since the early '90s," Burris said. "We are looking at changing that, and we are going to do that in December."

Recently, Utilities Inc. faced widespread opposition in its request for Pahrump and Nye County to be partners in seeking economic stimulus money. Burris said because this proposal was rejected, there won't be money available to Utilities Inc. from the stimulus package for his company to extend water and sewer lines unless developers pay for it.

A few members of Concerned Citizens for a Safe Community had questions about the company's agreement to provide service to the federal detention center. Utilities Inc. filed an application May 13 with the PUC to annex the 120-acre federal detention center site into its service territory.

Burris tried to alleviate fears about drugs from prisoners entering the sewer system. Burris said CCA will be required to put in a pre-treatment station to remove any inorganic material, so sewage leaves the facility just like any other waste.

Utilities Inc. estimates the cost of off-site sewer and water line improvements to the detention center will amount to $11.1 million. Utilities Inc. will contribute $2.1 million, CCA will pay the rest.

The annexation application estimates CCA will use 104 gallons of water per bed per day, or 40.7 million gallons per year based on 1,072 beds.

CCA will install 27,430 feet of sewer lines to carry sewage through two existing lift stations to reach the Willow Creek sewer treatment plant. The plant only treats about 603,000 gallons per day of its 1.5 million-gallon capacity, Burris said. It should easily be able to treat the peak sewage flows of 111,488 gallons per day expected from the detention center.

Two lift stations are scheduled to be upgraded by Utilities Inc. this year. One will handle the increased capacity from the detention center.

Utilities Inc. estimates annual water and sewer revenue from the detention center will amount to $288,666. CCA has agreed to pay Utilities Inc. a minimum of $225,000 annually for 15 years under the development agreement no matter how many prisoners are housed at the site.

"We didn't approve the prison," Burris told the audience. "When they come to us for service, we can't say no. We have to work with anybody that comes in."

CCA is installing 14,645 feet of 16-inch and 9,560 feet of 12-inch water lines to service the detention center as well as a 560-gallon-per-minute booster station to pump water to a 1-million-gallon storage tank that will be built on an acre at the site.

Burris said after the meeting if it weren't for CCA extending water and sewer lines to the detention center, Walmart wouldn't be able to afford to pay the cost of extending service to build a new store on Highway 160 at Adkisson Street.