LUCERNE – With another rate hike on the horizon for Lucerne, a local water group is lobbying to have the California Public Utilities Commission address the matter at a hearing in Lucerne.

Lucerne Community Water Organization President Craig Bach said Friday that the group's petition drive to bring the commission here has met with success. A hearing has been tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. May 7 at the Lucerne Senior Center.

California Water Service, the private company that manages Lucerne's water system, has levied a series of rate increases on the community in recent years.

The latest rate increase, which will be the subject of the May hearing, is to raise funds to repay a zero-interest loan from a state revolving fund program to upgrade the town's water plant, as Lake County News reported last month.

Tom Smegal, Cal Water's manager of rates, told Lake County News in a previous interview that Lucerne's plant upgrades and additions are costing a total of $7.44 million.

The Cal Water application explains that all customers will receive a surcharge on their meters to repay the usage, with a normal residence having an additional monthly charge of $17.37. Low-income customers also will have to pay the surcharge, Gay Guidotti, a Cal Water customer service representative for Lucerne, told Lake County News in February.

Bach said the plant is supposed to be finished July 1, and the new surcharge would go into effect immediately afterward.

He said he feels that the new charges may be a done deal, but nonetheless believed it was important to petition the state for a local hearing. “All we're trying to say is let's just keep them honest.”

In February the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution against another rate hike Cal Water requested, which would amount to about 25 percent higher charges for customers over the next two years.

Bach said Cal Water and the Public Utility Commission's Division of Ratepayer Advocates – which had turned down certain portions of the request – have reached an agreement on that increase, “but it hasn't been made public yet.”

Although they've already submitted a couple hundred signatures to the commission for the hearing, the water organization needs to submit more if possible, said Bach.

Lucerne Community Water Organization's sister organization, Lucerne Friends of Locally Owned Water, is holding a bake sale Saturday – in honor of World Water Day – in front of Sentry Market in Nice. Bach said they'll be collecting signatures there.

Lucerne Community Water Organization meets the second Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Lucerne Senior Center. For more information about the group or to inquire about signing a petition, call Bach, 274-3346. Visit the group's Web site at www.lcwo.org.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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