康州总检察长要求监管机构否决2500万美元水费涨价：称涨幅超18%、利润要求过高
康涅狄格州总检察长 William Tong 10月22日向州公用事业监管局（PURA）提交书面意见，要求否决康涅狄格水务公司（Connecticut Water Company）提出的2500万美元涨价申请，称这笔涨价“缺乏依据、家庭负担不起”。
总检察长办公室表示，若获批准，这笔涨价将使水费上调超过18%，普通用户每年多付约156美元。康涅狄格水务公司在全州60个社区服务约10.8万名用水客户，另在 Southbury 服务约3000名污水处理客户。
William Tong 的办公室称，已逐页审查了公司的涨价申请，找出1900万美元可削减的“虚胖利润、不经济的资本结构，以及多处把本应由股东承担的成本转嫁给用户”的做法。办公室指出，公司要求10%的股本回报率，是全州主要受监管公用事业中最高的利润水平；公司还要求用户为董事会费用、责任保险和游说开支买单，而这些应主要由股东承担。
“康涅狄格家庭为公用事业支付的费用已经太高，承受不起没有依据的两位数涨幅，”William Tong 表示，“我们逐页审查了康涅狄格水务的申请，发现了1900万美元的虚胖利润。”协助办理此案的包括助理总检察长 Caroline McCormack、John Wright，以及消费者保护处负责人 Michael Wertheimer。
Connecticut attorney general urges rejection of $25 million water rate hike: calls increase of over 18% and profit demand excessive
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong filed a brief with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) on October 22 urging rejection of the Connecticut Water Company's proposed $25 million rate increase, calling it unjustified and unaffordable.
The Attorney General's office said the increase, if approved, would raise rates by more than 18 percent, or about $156 per year for the average customer. Connecticut Water serves about 108,000 water customers in 60 communities across the state, plus about 3,000 wastewater customers in Southbury.
Tong's office said it combed through every page of the company's application and identified $19 million in cuts, citing bloated profits, an uneconomical capital structure, and multiple instances of shareholder costs being inappropriately shifted onto ratepayers. The company is seeking a 10 percent return on equity, the highest profit margin of any principal regulated utility in Connecticut, and is also asking ratepayers to fund board of directors fees, liability insurance and lobbying costs that should principally be borne by shareholders.
"Connecticut families pay far too much for their utilities as it is, and we cannot afford unjustified double-digit increases," Tong said. "We combed through every page of CT Water's application, and we found $19 million in bloated profits." Assistant Attorneys General Caroline McCormack and John Wright and Michael Wertheimer, chief of the Consumer Protection Section, assisted in the matter.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：位于 Hartford 的康涅狄格州议会大厦。摄影：jglazer75，CC BY 2.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
