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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!
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Sign the Petition! Stop the Golden State Water Rip-Off! Sign our petition to stop the next wave of increases! Background We are opposed to the high cost of water ranging from 2.5 to 4.2 times what our closest neighbors pay for water from the Irvine, Orange, and Tustin water districts. We are outraged by this unexplainably excessive over-charging for a basic necessity of life. Many people in every community are on fixed-incomes, and others have low incomes. Water sold by Golden State Water is usually one of the highest monthly bills second only to their mortgage.
Between 2010-2013 Golden State Water increased all of our water rates by 31%, between 2013-2016 they increased rates by an effective 20%. Now in 2017 they are back at it again increasing rates by 13% over the next 3 years. These current and past increases far exceed rate increases seen by local municipal and public water agencies.
Public agencies are prevented by Proposition 218 from profiting from the sale of water, a necessity of life. But NOT “private” Golden State Water, whose high overhead, as well as the high overhead of their parent company American States Water (NYSE:AWR), who need to increase profit and dividends to their stock holders year-after-year. GSW has learned how “to convince” the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that their applied-for rate increases are necessary.
What is a Monopoly? It is a situation in which a single company owns all or nearly all of the market for a given type of service or product. The single company operates without competition. We pay GSW an exorbitant price for water that is no better than water delivered by public water agencies whose interest is the ‘public good’. Ratepayers are outraged. Water is more than a commodity it is an absolute necessity of life. It should be delivered responsibly at the lowest possible cost, not the highest. Due to these escalating costs, Golden State Water has lost the public's trust. Petition Foothill FLOW (Friends of Locally-Owned Water) aka “Region 3 - Cowan Heights”, by Golden State Water (a subsidiary of American States Water public-traded on the NYSE as AWR), covers the areas of Cowan Heights, Lemon Heights, both Rocking Horse Ridges and much of North Tustin. Foothill Flow has approximately 2,400+ residents, which is all residential (with the exception of one elementary school and one church) and has banded together to oust Golden State Water! After a rate increase of 31% over the last three years and a now approved increase of 20 % for 2013, 14 and 15, it is no wonder that Golden State Water has lost the public's trust. |
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Take Action! SIGN OUR PETITION NOW! |