HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - A Lamar County water district is appealing a Public Service Commission order to change some of its policies.
WDAM-TV reports (https://bit.ly/2oFrQGK) that the Arnold Line Water Association requires customers to have account numbers to pay bills. The nonprofit water utility has agreements with the City of Hattiesburg and two Lamar County sewer districts to cut off water if sewer bills aren’t paid. The Public Service Commission ordered the utility to end those agreements, but Arnold Line filed an appeal.
Customers argue that Arnold Line’s rules are burdensome and expensive.
“There’s been occasions where if the bill was due and I hadn’t gone to pay it, the water was turned off at 7:30 before the office even opened in the morning,” said Terrence Lynch, who has been an Arnold Line customer for about four years. “At one point, they want us to have our account numbers when we go up there, and for me, that was new.”
Sam Britton, the public service commissioner for the southern district, said that the agency ordered changes to try to ensure customers are treated fairly.
“It’s not the customer’s responsibility to ensure that the utility system runs smoothly,” said Britton, a Republican.
The state’s Public Service Commission has a contentious history with local water districts. Public Service Commission intervention in a dispute at the North Lee Water Association led to lawmakers passing a law in 2013 saying the commission had no power to regulate internal affairs of any water association, electric cooperative or municipal utility.
Another dispute centered on the commission’s effort to force cooperatives and rural water associations to delay deposits charged of domestic violence victims hooking up new utilities.
Earlier this year the state Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that the Public Service Commission didn’t have the power to make such a rule governing nonprofit water utility associations and corporations.
Arnold Line must next present oral arguments before all three public service commissioners.
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Information from: WDAM-TV, https://www.wdam.com
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