FANTASTIC BREAKING NEWS: Golden State Water lost again!
 
  
 
First, Ojai won in lower court when Golden State Water sued to prevent Casitas Water from taking over the system. 
Second, GSW appealed that decision in appellate court and lost. 
 
Today, the State Supreme Court refused to hear GSW’s final appeal. Ojai and Claremont are now free to proceed against GSW. This is a huge blow to Golden State Water, and their high priced legal team. This is a very important result. 
 
Now if the majority of GSW customers in our Cowan Heights System truly want GSW gone, it can be done!
 
 
 
 May 6th Community Meeting Was A Success!
 
 
 
 
 
 




Room Only Water Meeting last November!North Tustin, Lemon Heights, Cowan Heights and Rocking Horse Ridge... 
LET'S TAKE BACK CONTROL OF OUR WATER SYSTEM
Golden State Water is sending our rates higher, and higher, and higher... 
 
 
 
Since 2000 our water rates have increased close to 100% including an increase of 31% over the last three years. Plus 16%, now approved for this year by the CPUC, retroactive to January 1st, 2013. Plus an additional 4% total for 2014, 2015. A 20% increase for three years. All yearly increases are cumulative, they do not go away.  Below is a table showing how many times more we pay for water from Golden State Water then our neighbors.  This is outrageous!

Supplier Low Vol.User High Vol.User
IRWD 4.4X 2.8X
City of Orange 2.4X 2.3X
EOCWD 1.4X 1.7X
City of Tustin 1.7X 1.5X
 
 
GOT INSANELY HIGH WATER BILLS?  SO DO WE!   
$300/month? $500/month?  Some as high as $1400/month!  Water bills in North Tustin, Lemon Heights, Cowan Heights and Rocking Horse Ridge are INSANE!  Why? One reason --- Golden State Water and their profit motivated overhead.
 
HOW CAN GOLDEN STATE WATER CHARGE US THIS MUCH?!  
“How can it be that GSW can raise their rates this high and going higher again this year, when other water agencies rate increases are more moderate?”
  1. Golden State Water is a private, for-profit water company. Their obligation is to deliver water, their primary goal is to "maximize profits". All they need is approval from their regulator --- The CPUC.  
  2. Public water agencies cannot sell water, a necessity of life, profit, due to Proposition 218 passing in 1996, which provides that revenues from the property related fee “shall not exceed the funds required to provide service.” and “shall not exceed the proportional cost of service attributable to the parcel.”  Public agencies cannot profit from the sale of water.
Since 2000 our water rates have increased close to 100%, including an increase of 31% over the last three years, plus 16%, now approved for this year by the CPUC, retroactive to January 1st, 2013, plus an additional 4% total for 2014, 2015.  A 20% increase for three years. All yearly increases are cumulative, they do not go away. Since 2007 and before, the cost of water to our community provided by Golden State Water has increased far more than increases seen from surrounding public and municipal water companies. (City of Orange, City of Tustin, East Orange County Water District, Irvine Ranch Water, etc.) 		 
COMMUNITY SUPPORT MATTERS!!!
With community support, we can get out from underneath a private, for-profit water company as the community of Felton CA. The Foothill Communities Association's goal, with the very important wide support of the community and the eventual help of a local public water agency, is to permanently remove GSW from our community, with water then supplied to us by that local water agency.  
 
STOP paying for water system improvements outside our area
STOP paying 2X to 4X more than water from IRWD, Orange, or Tustin districts
STOP paying for GSW's endless appeals for more of our hard-earned money
STOP depending on Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to protect you
STOP the excessive 25% and 35% water increases
STOP policies that discourage conservation
 

Follow the steps that other communities have successful undertaken and are currently taking to reclaim their water infrastructure and independence from private, egregious water companies.

OR

We can do nothing and trust our future to Golden State Water and the CPUC.   

The Foothill Communities Association's goal with the eventual help of a public water agency and the support of the community is to, in time, rid our area of GSW for good and be serviced by more responsible municipal local water agencies.
  
 
 
 


JOIN OJAI + CLAREMONT... 
 
 
 
 
 
As Court Gives 15-Day Extension
By stalling for time, Golden State is playing the system for all it’s worth. They have known for months that their opening appeal brief would be due, but they also knew that, even when a date was set, the court would give them an extension, which they just obtained on September 11. 
 
The Golden State appeal was due on August 25, but the court has just gotten around to telling them that they’re in default. The court says that if Golden State’s opening brief is not filed within the 15 days following September 11, 2014 (i.e., by September 26, 2014), or if good cause for relief from default is not shown, their appeal will be dismissed.
 
We shall see. It seems no one cares that this appeal is causing Golden State’s Ojai ratepayers to lose more than $9,000 a day because we can’t yet get the Casitas water rates we voted for.
 
Ok, let’s move on. Unless the court gives Golden State another extension, we now have a firm date by when their appeal will be filed. Here is the approximate schedule after the brief is received:
 
• Casitas has 30 days to respond. 
• Golden State has 20 days to respond to the Casitas response. 
• Assuming no delays, this will take us to the end of November, and then the court will set a schedule for oral argument, likely early in 2015.
  
Please note: The City of Claremont will be voting in November to buy out the Golden State operations in their city (see http://www.claremontflow.org/). They are about ten times our size, and Golden State is throwing in lots of money to defeat that measure. We believe this to be why Golden State is doing everything possible to prevent Ojai from a successful buyout in advance of that election.  
 
We can all be proud that we’re standing together as a community to defend our rights and defeat Golden State. This is what Ojai is known for.
 
  
We still suggest that as many people as possible 
Show up for the
court hearing in early 2015
so that the court will see how important its decision is to the Golden State ratepayers of Ojai.
Please keep this in mind as we move at forward at the snail’s pace so deliberately set by Golden State.
 
Please pass this on to others.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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