PSB Appeal |
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Jimmy and Yolanda Janacek
7423 Turnberry Ct. PO Box 3242
Rancho Santa Fe, Ca. 92067
November 20, 2013
Mr. Mark Bolduc, Customer Service Manager
El Paso Water Utilities
1154 Hawkins
El Paso, Texas 79925
RE: Acct. Nos. 60-6587.301 and 60-6584.301
Dear Mr. Bolduc,
I wish to appeal the PSB decision to sell water to Fort bliss at wholesale rates. The decision will jeopardize the water supply of El Paso Citizens and force them to recycle their own toilet water.
Public Service Board (PSB) Rules and Regulations No. 8 provide as follows:
- "....THE FOLLOWING RULES AND REGULATIONS SHALL IN ALL INSTANCES GOVERN THE RIGHT OR RIGHTS OF APPEAL CONCERNING ANY DECISION OR RULE AFFECTING ANY CUSTOMER OF THE EL PASO WATER UTILITIES (EPWU)."
- "....the right of appeal is provided to permit adjustments in the policies or charges where these adjustments bring about greater equity between customers and do not merely give relief to one customer simply because that customer feels that the charges are excessive or the policy is unreasonable. The true test of the policies as well as requests for deviation from the policies is that the action taken by the Utility must be fair and equitable to all customers.
PSB acted outside the authority granted by its own Rules and Regulations. Therefore the unified wholesale contract with Fort Bliss must be rescinded. The following PSB Rules and Regulations prohibit the sale of water to Fort Bliss at wholesale rates.
a) "action taken by the Utility must be fair and equitable to all customers."1
b) "in no case shall funds from the utility be used so as to cause an expense to the other customers which would amount to a subsidy without benefits...."2
c) Water service is limited to "County residents who are not now served, or who are served on a substandard basis, which condition creates hazards to public health."3
d) "El Paso Water Utilities is owned by the citizens of El Paso; is operated for the benefit of said citizens as a publicly-owned utility; the rates and charges to each customer should be related to the cost of service and to the benefits received"4
1 Rules and Regulations No. 8, P. 1 http://www.epwu.org/pdf/rules_regs.pdf
2 Rules and Regulations No. 11, Sec. II (B)(3)(a)
3 Ibid, Sec. II (A)(1)(b)
4 Ibid, Sec. II (A)(1)(a)
e) "Service extensions will be limited to properties within the extra territorial jurisdiction (ETJ)"of the city.5
f) EPWU must "assure that costs are assumed by the apparently benefited parties and not by the general water users of the City and County of El Paso, Texas."6
g) EPWU cannot provide water to Fort Bliss unless Fort Bliss "is totally or partially within El Paso County, Texas, and the buildings and all other improvements to be served are included on the tax-rolls of the County of El Paso, Texas."7
h) Fort Bliss must be in "Compliance with the City of El Paso's subdivision ordinance and other applicable ordinances and state statutes, as they now read or may be amended."8
I) Fort Bliss must provide EPWU "with a complete legal description of all property on which buildings and/or other improvements are proposed to be located that require water or sewer service. This property description shall become a part of the application for service and will be used in calculating the extension charges as provided in Rules and Regulations No. 7. No water and/or sewer service shall be extended to any property other than that which was identified by the owner or applicant for service at the time such service was initially provided. Providing water and/or sewer service directly or indirectly to property other than that originally identified in the application for service is a violation of these rules and regulations and shall be cause for discontinuance of service in accordance
with Section IX.9
j) Fort Bliss "must negotiate a contract with EPWU specifying contract time, maximum quantity desired, cost of service and other conditions of service."10
k) Fort Bliss must "comply with and impose and enforce on their retail customers the Conservation Regulations of the City of El Paso, and its EPWU/PSB."11 "All water conservation rules and ordinances which are applicable to customers in the City of El Paso shall be applicable to "Outside-City" customers and will be strictly enforced."12
l) "The purpose of extending service to outside-city customers by the Public Service Board is to promote the public health, safety and welfare of the community of El Paso County. However, it is the intent of the Public Service Board to maintain the viability of the Utility while serving this purpose. Existing customers shall not be burdened with rates and
costs associated with the expanded field of service. Therefore, a priority system for consideration of applicants such as included in the "Policies", as amended, which considers need, funding, health issues and engineering feasibility, or as may be determined by the Texas Water Development Board, will be utilized. It is the intent that the Utility will be expanded contiguously without "leapfrogging" in accordance with available funding so as to be in the best interests of the rate-payers, existing and future, and of the Utility."13
14 Ibid, Sec. V
5 Ibid, Sec. II (A)(1)
6 Ibid, Sec. II (A)(3)
7 Ibid, Sec. II (A)(4)(a)
8 Ibid, Sec. II (A)(4)(d)
9 Ibid, Sec. II (A)(5)
10 Ibid, Sec. II (B)(1)(a)
11 Ibid, Sec. II (B)(1)(f)
12 Ibid, Sec. II (B)(6)
13 Ibid, Sec. II (B)(9)(a)
m) Fort Bliss must "comply with Section V of Rules and Regulations No. 1, the City Plumbing Code, and the Regulations of the Texas State Department of Health, the rules and regulations of the TNRCC, and all other applicable laws." Fort Bliss must "permit inspection at any reasonable hour by the Department of Public Inspection, the City Plumbing Inspector, the Sanitary Engineer of the City-County Health Unit, the Cross-Connection Control Program Manager, a Water Conservation Enforcement Officer or Technician, Pretreatment Inspectors, or any official employee or representative of the Utility. The purpose of this inspection is to determine whether physical facilities exist on the premises of the user that are a hazard or may create a hazard to the health, safety, or welfare of the citizens of El Paso through possible contamination of the water supply by cross-connections, back siphonage, excessive leaks, or other means which constitute a threat to the water supply or other conditions or activities prohibited by the mandatory water conservation ordinance of the City of El Paso, Chapter 15.13 of the El Paso Municipal Code."14
n) Fort Bliss will use the water resources of El Paso Citizens while "resting" their own water wells for future use. EPWU service cannot be "provided to a property, or shall be discontinued, when service has already been provided, where underground and/or surface water belonging to the property served is used in a manner that will not reduce by the same amount the water requirements on the property served by the Public Service Board."15
o) "Customers with premises having private wells who wish to connect to the public water supply shall have the following two options: 1) Agree to permanently abandon use of the private wells by plugging the well, prior to connecting to the public water supply, in accordance with Utility procedures and TCEQ requirements; 2) Agree to completely and permanently sever the private well from the premises water supply system in accordance with Utility procedures, prior to connecting to the public water supply and Customer shall install an approved backflow prevention assembly at the water service connection."16
p) Conditions of Service to outside-city customers shall be in strict accordance with Rules and Regulations No. 7and Rules and Regulations No. 9. Fort Bliss must provide written acknowledgment that they will comply.17
Sincerely,
Jimmy Janacek
14 Ibid, Sec. V
15 Ibid, Sec. II (A)(2)
16 Rules and Regulations No. 7, Sec. II(M)(1 and 2) and No. 11, Sec. II (A)(5)
17 Rules and Regulations No. 11, Sec. II(B)(4)
