Brace your wallet: Illinois American Water proposes $142M rate hike | ChicagoLIVE

We're starting off, though, with what is quite a shocking situation that's happening in Bowling Brook. Um, you know, I saw my power bill, my power bill today. If you think about the, uh, high temperatures that we have had over the last week, but especially, you know, a couple weeks ago, man, I mean, we were hitting incredible temperatures outside extreme heat, quite honestly, extreme heat that we were talking about the storms going into July 4th really broke it up. But we were experiencing extreme heat before then. And so I looked at my my my power bill today. I'm a cool man. But, of course, you know exactly why it's that high, because we just came through extreme heat. Now imagine your water bill being like that month after month after month. And we're not saying there was some event to cause it to spike. But that is the average of it being here instead of here. We want to go ahead and bring in the mayor of Bowling Brook, Mary Alexander Basta. Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate your time. Thank you so much for having us. So I see that you are urging regulators to reject this Illinois American waters proposed $142 million rate increase. Explain to us the situation that you all are dealing with. Absolutely. You know, water is a necessity, and Illinois American water does have a monopoly here in Bowling Brook. We have no options other than to go with Illinois American water. What we're seeing is that every other year they are going to the I. C. C. And asking for yet another rate increase 2024. They requested and they were granted, which took an effect January of 2025. Now here we are in 2026. They're going at it again, requesting another rate increase that would have take effect in January of 27. And our question is, when is enough enough? You know, this is a company that is requesting again, like you stated, $142 million. Over the past decade, they've gotten a $319 million increase, and it's too much. It's not a luxury. Like I said, it's not a shopping trip that you could postpone or a vacation that you could put out. It's water. It would be one thing if the residents if I was speaking with the resident right now. But what made you say I've got to take this up on behalf of my residents? You know, we've made multiple attempts. And when you you always know when those water bills hit, because that's when you start getting calls calls from seniors calls from young families or people on set income effects fixed income. And they're saying, What is going on? Why is my water bill so high? Some of them are astronomical. You know, we try to do the back work and say, Have you checked for leaks? Have you had someone come out? But at the end of the day, it's clearly Illinois American water and their charges that are astronomical. So I see that you've reached out to the Illinois Commerce Commission. What has that communication been like? And has there been anything that has made you think progress could be positive for your residents? Well, we had to go through hoop. We had a resident that reached out and asked for another public meeting, which the staff approved. But we had to get the actual commission to approve. So we went through those hurdles, we got it approved. You know, last time we held the same meeting, none of the five ICC commissioners showed up. They sent an administrative law judge who took the notes, the Illinois American water president did show up to that meeting. But again, listening directly from residents hearing their stories, hearing their struggles goes a very long way, much more so than reading it on paper. So my reach out to the ICC has been please show up to this meeting, please listen to the residents and hear their stories for yourself. It's not just a local mayor asking it is an entire community and actually it goes beyond our community. It is the entire partial of Illinois that uses Illinois American water. So what is the average bill right now, would you say for your residents and how much of a difference would a Average rate bill right now is probably $220. Obviously, it's based on usage. You know, what they're using right now is if you use 3500 gallons of water a month, which is very minimal, actually, maybe a one person household would use that you would probably see something like a $50 increase per month between the water and the collection fees, which is an additional $500 a year. Again, that's on the very, very low end. And while $500 a year might not sound like much to some, it's detrimental to others. I see you're not alone. Who are you sitting with? I don't want to leave. This is Lucas Rickleman, one of our administrators, and he's been fighting this alongside me. And actually, even before I became mayor, in terms of the transitions, the cost, so he has the historical engineering perspective. And Lucas, has this been surprising to you along the way? The rate they're asking for now is kind of surprising. It's a pickup from what they've done in the past. And, you know, over my time here at the village, you know, I've probably been taking utility calls for over 20 years now. And the calls I get about the cost of water are nothing like any of the other utilities. I don't talk to people about the cost of electric bill. I don't talk to people about the cost of their gas bill. But it seems almost monthly, if not weekly basis, I talk to somebody about the cost of their water bill. And so if you all have been seeing steady increases, what makes you feel like this effort will result in possibly some relief for people living there? Actually, it's media like yourself joining us and sharing our message and allowing us the opportunity to be heard. Again, this is five ICC commissioners, two of which have previously served as mayors. So if anything, they should understand the need to listen to constituents and actually be there to not just listen to them, but empathize with them, hear their stories. And our ask, to be very honest, is that these commissioners show up, they're close to making $200,000 a year, which is not a little bit of a salary. And so we don't think that asking them to show up to this meeting is a large ask, but we think it will make a very, very big difference. So we did reach out to Illinois American Water, and I'm going to take some time because I'm having a lengthy conversation with you to read their lengthy response. And then I want you all to stay online so that you can respond to what we have here. Okay, so give me just a moment to read through this for everyone who's watching right now. It says Illinois American Water's rate request submitted to the Illinois Commerce Commission is the first step in a comprehensive data driven review process that includes multiple opportunities for public comment and stakeholder participation before a decision is made. No changes to customer rates occur unless and until approved by the ICC. Illinois American Water's proposal reflects the prudent long term investments needed to maintain safe, reliable water and wastewater service to customers. The rate request reinforces the company's commitment to implementing critical system upgrades and continuing to improve water quality and reliability for its more than 1.3 million people served statewide. The proposed rate adjustment supports the company's plans to invest approximately $577 million through 2027 to modernize and strengthen its water and wastewater systems in communities across Illinois. Investments include replacing aging pipes, upgrading treatment facilities, improving storage and pumping systems and meeting evolving regulatory requirements. Examples of investments in the Chicagoland area include $3.5 million in a booster tank installment in Woodridge, $2.5 million in lift station improvements in Homer Glen and $1 million in water storage tank renovations in Bowling Brook this year. These investments directly benefit the customers and communities we serve, providing our customers with reliable service and improved water quality from treatment to the tap. At the same time, Illinois American Water remains committed to affordability and offers programs to assist income eligible customers, including its income based discount program, H two oh help to others assistance program, budget billing options and flexible payment plans. Illinois American Water's proposal additionally includes provisions to help manage costs for lower usage customers by making prudent ongoing investments. Illinois American Water is committed to protecting public health and safety in the communities we serve. Um, Mayor, what are your thoughts? My thoughts is that that's all well and fine. But over the past decade, Illinois American Water alone has netted a $200 million, uh, again, net after all expenses. After everything has been paid, they netted $200 million and their parent company, American Water Works, netted. Are you ready? $2.3 billion in profits. Again, that's net. So my rebuttal to that is absolutely we want safe water. We want our systems to be clean. We want everything to work properly. However, we think that that's something that could be done through their, you know, take it out of your income. Take it out of your profits. Don't continue to burden the users that have no choice but to be your customers. You know, when we have things here that we need infrastructure repair, we don't raise taxes. We budget accordingly. We work within our means and we make things happen. And that's what we're asking Illinois American Water to do is work within your means. You know what needs to be done. You've known what needs to be done. But continuing to ask for these excessive increases is just not no longer going to be acceptable. And yes, that is correct. They would only get this if the ICC approves it. The ICC has done nothing but approve it the last every other year that they have asked for it. So why not continue to ask for it if you know it's going to get So we are asking the ICC to say no to any additional rate hikes, not just for Illinois American Water, but any utilities work within your means and continue to provide the product that you should be providing to all residents that utilize Illinois American Water in the state of Illinois. Okay. And right now we don't have a set date for the ICC to come back to the table, correct? We do. It is, uh, well, we don't know when coming to the table, but our open meeting will be on July 14th again, where we're inviting the ICC and love to even have the governor come out and listen straight from the residents, their feelings about this. It will be from 7 to 9 30 at 201 Canterbury Lane right here in our community center. Okay. Thank you so much for joining us today on Chicago Live and make sure you continue to keep us updated along the way. We are invested in hearing how this goes from here. Definitely. Thank you for having us. Thank you for taking the time.