To the Editor:

Chester Water Authority provides water service to 48,000 Chester County households. If the proposed sale of CWA to Aqua PA is allowed, these residents will see a doubling of their water bills. You need only look at the sale of the New Garden Township sewer system to see what will happen; township residents saw a rate increase of over 85 percent, with no additional benefits.

CWA is a well-run and award winning regional public utility, but the City of Chester hopes to use the proceeds of the sale to offset its financial problems caused by decades of mismanagement. Our rates will increase solely to bail out the City of Chester and pay Aqua’s profits. A sale will bring no benefits to CWA customers, and the substantial rate increase will place an additional burden on low-income households throughout the County.

The driving force for the sale of CWA was provided by the passage of Act 12 in 2016. This legislation allows private, for-profit utilities to buy public utilities at inflated prices and pass the cost to their ratepayers, resulting in $65 million leaving Pennsylvania annually.

Our legislators in Harrisburg have begun to recognize the negative impact of Act 12. Bipartisan legislation to provide ratepayer protection, including the repeal of Act 12, has been introduced in both chambers. Unfortunately, these bills are locked up in committees preventing any meaningful action.

Our legislators and the Governor need to know we oppose senseless utility privatization. Several Chester County legislators already publicly support the repeal of Act 12. Contact your senator, representative, and the Governor to let them know you support the repeal of Act 12 and that CWA ratepayers should not pay the bill to bailout the city of Chester. For more information and to learn what you can do, go to https://chesterwater.com/savecwa/ and https://www.keepwateraffordable.org/updates.

Peter Mrozinski

New Garden Township

Co-founder, Keep Water Affordable