Prairie Township trustrees take Fight to attorney general
(by Katie Sparks, staff writer - October 08, 2009)
Prairie Township trustees had more news to share with residents in regard to the Fight the Hike Ohio, the consumer coalition against Ohio American Water (OAW) rate increases, at their Oct. 7 meeting.
The seven Ohio townships involved in Fight the Hike have been holding weekly telephone conferences to address the plans for action against OAW rate increases.
The affected townships are Blendon, Madison, Norwich, Perry, Prairie, Sharon and Truro. The townships together decided to draft a letter to send to Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray.
Copies of the letter were available at the township meeting. The letter urges Cordray “to carefully research the rate case filed by OAW on May 7, 2009.”
Steve Kennedy, vice-chair of the Prairie Township board of trustees said the group of townships felt the best course of action in fighting the increase is, “to get the attorney general involved to look over the financial reports that the company is actually turning out to make sure they have all the facts correct,” he said.
The letter asks Cordray to “ensure that Ohio American is not asking for more in customer rates than the company genuinely needs to meet its expenses and provide a fair return to its shareholders, based on the realities of today’s economic climate.”
Kennedy said Fight the Hike Ohio is following the lead of Chattanooga, Tenn., an area that had success fighting rate increases and also involved their state attorney general.
Prairie Township trustees approved the letter, which will be signed by all the townships.