Arizona-American Water Company, Inc. - 2008 Rate Case

On May 1, 2008, Arizona-American Water Company, Inc. ("Arizona-American" or "Company"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Water Works Company (NYSE: AWK), filed an application with the Arizona Corporation Commission ("ACC" or "Commission") requesting rate increases for the following Districts:                       

NAME OF DISTRICT     REVENUE  INCREASE    PERCENTAGE INCREASE

Agua Fria Water District               $9,192,203                                   48.8%

Havasu Water District                   $815,803                                      79.5%

Mohave Water District                  $1,655,410                                    32.4%

Paradise Valley Water District      $3,101,550                                    39.5%

Sun City West Water District        $4,276,305                                    75.0%

Tubac Water District                     $278,214                                        65.2%

Mohave Wastewater District         $642,148                                        80.7%

In addition to the increases in revenue listed above, the Company is also seeking a number of changes to existing surcharges and fees and is requesting specific accounting treatments for certain plant items.

On June 2, 2008, ACC Staff issued a letter of deficiency notifying the Company that its application did not meet the sufficiency requirements of Arizona Administrative Code Rule R14-2-103. ACC Staff listed several deficiencies that need to be corrected before a proceeding on Arizona-American's request can begin. 

On June 20, July 15, and July 21, 2008, the Company filed revisions to the application, which then met the sufficiency requirements.

On July 8, 2008, RUCO was granted intervention. On August 11, 2008, the ALJ assigned to the case issued a procedural order that scheduled a hearing in the matter.

On Friday, January 9, 2009, RUCO filed direct testimony which presented its recommended levels of revenue and its recommended rate of return for each of the seven districts. Arizona-American filed rebuttal testimony on Wednesday, February 11, 2009, which adopted a number of RUCO's recommendations. RUCO filed surrebuttal testimony on Tuesday, March 3, 2009. The Company filed its rejoinder testimony on Wednesday, March 11, 2009.

The evidentiary hearing on the matter was held at the ACC's Phoenix office between Thursday March 19, 2009 and Monday March 30, 2009. During the hearing RUCO's witnesses faced cross examination from the Company's attorney and RUCO's Chief Counsel had the opportunity to question witnesses for Arizona-American.

On Tuesday, April 14, 2009, RUCO filed its final post-hearing schedules which presented RUCO's final position on the required revenue for each of Arizona-American's seven districts. Initial closing briefs were filed on Friday, May 1, 2009. Reply briefs were filed as scheduled on Friday, May 15, 2009.

After weighing all of the evidence presented during the proceeding (including public comments and correspondence from concerned ratepayers) the Administrative Law Judge assigned to the case issued a Recommended Opinion and Order ("ROO") on Tuesday, November 3, 2009. 

During an Open Meeting held on December 4, 2009, ACC Commissioners adopted an amended ROO that resulted in Decision No. 71410, dated December 8, 2009.