One of the issues we all face – homeowners and the Resort alike – are the high costs of potable water and wastewater treatment in our community. There were two significant developments on that front on Wednesday of last week.
As you may know, MPSC is an independent, privately-held, for-profit company owned by Illinois-based Utilities, Inc. Great Eastern and Massanutten resort have no ownership stake in either MPSC or UI.
The first development is that Wednesday afternoon, Great Eastern filed testimony with the State Corporation Commission outlining our objections to MPSC’s proposed rate increases. Testimony was filed by Steve Krohn, Executive Vice President of The Resorts Companies (our employee-owned parent corporation) and several independent utility consultants.
The second development, which occurred later that evening, was that the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to create a Water and Sanitary Authority for the Massanutten area. This is the first step of what will likely be an involved process – but it’s one that could bode well for all of us.
The creation of the Authority does not automatically mean that the County will take over. But it does start that process in motion – including analysis of the MPSC infrastructure and determining a reasonable valuation for the system.
We are cautiously optimistic about this development. It doesn’t necessarily mean that rates will go down anytime soon – if at all – but it does potentially mean that rates could be stabilized and – perhaps most importantly – wouldn’t include any type of profit in the form of Return on Equity, which is one of the drivers of MPSC’s rates.
To that end, I encourage you to read the first of two articles on MPSC’s proposed rate structure. You can find it here. It may help you understand the factors involved in SCC’s rate-setting process, which are more complicated than many folks realize.
Cordially,
Matthias Smith, VP/General Manager, Massanutten Resort
Leave a Reply