If you’re a customer of the Butler Area Sewer Authority and you checked your mailbox recently, you should have received correspondence from both BASA and the Pennsylvania American Water Company telling you of rate increases in your future.

No matter how hard they try to soft-pedal when and how those rate increases take effect, the fact is, according to their own letters, you will see rate increases. This is true whether BASA is sold or not.

The question is, will they go higher if BASA is not sold, or will they go higher if BASA is sold to a non-local, publicly traded company that answers to shareholders instead of you?

We contend that under Pennsylvania American, you will pay more — over time possibly double — compared to what BASA would charge if this sale is not stopped. Why?

As a municipal authority, BASA simply needs to pay its debts and cover its costs. As a for-profit corporation, Pennsylvania American has to pay debts and cover costs while growing profits, generating shareholder return, paying dividends and paying executive bonuses. It also has to cover the costs of a large and growing network of operations well outside of the Butler area. You, the customer, will pay for that.

Pennsylvania American has claimed BASA’s expenses/upgrades will be shared by every customer in their system across the state. So the $75 million upgrade BASA says is needed will be shared by customers statewide. The trouble is that works both ways. Local customers will share the cost for other Pennsylvania American acquisitions and upgrades, contributing to even more monthly rate increases over time. Growth comes with a cost.

BASA can pay for the needed upgrades. According to BASA, the authority has a total of 23,541 equivalent dwelling units (EDU). An EDU is one household. At a rate of $43 per month, per EDU, that’s a total of just over $1 million per month in revenue. If BASA would borrow the funds, it would cost the ratepayers only $31 or less per month, depending on the terms of BASA’s loan. This is far less than the doubling that Pennsylvania American proposes.

As a municipal authority, BASA could be eligible for grants and low-interest loans through sources such as Penn-Vest or USDA. BASA can lower rates after completing the upgrades.

Another change is that Pennsylvania American would base sewer bills on water usage. What if you water your lawn or wash your car? You will pay for the delivery of that water, and then you will pay again for that water to go down the drain even if it doesn’t. Keep BASA and you retain the flat fee arrangement.

We have no way of knowing how Butler City and Butler Township arrived at that $231.5 million sale price, because only Butler City and Butler Township are represented on the BASA board. Still, when you combine the cost of the sale with the upgrades, the more realistic number is $305 million that customers will have to pay for in the form of higher bills. Pennsylvania American’s own letter indicated a “potential increase” of 94.4% in your bill.

Pennsylvania American promised no rate increases for a year after closing on the sale. But BASA rates already went up by $5 per month in the fourth quarter of 2022. BASA recently announced another rate increase of $2.50 per month to take place shortly before closing. That works to Pennsylvania American’s advantage, but it penalizes ratepayers. Because two rate increases will have gone into effect before the close, BASA already did the dirty work for Pennsylvania American, and still, Pennsylvania American indicated that more rate increases are on the horizon, starting a year after the sale closes.

We’re not alone with our concerns. The Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate, on April 11, 2023, filed its protest with the Public Utility Commission over the proposed sale. Its concerns are similar to ours.

This proposed sale is not in the best interests of local residents and BASA customers. Selling out to Pennsylvania American is fiscally irresponsible and unconscionable. If this matters to you, it’s time to speak up or live with the consequences.

Don Pringle is a township supervisor at Center Township. Willie Adams is a township supervisor at Summit Township.

This article was updated on Monday, June 5, 2023, to adjust the number of equivalent dwelling units (EDU) for the system to 23,541. At a rate of $43 per month, per EDU, that generates over $1 million in revenue.