PSC seeks proposals for NYAW public acquisition

As the $608 million sale of American Water Works Co.’s New York operation to Liberty Utilities nears its close, the state Public Service Commission has filed a notice seeking alternative plans for public acquisition.

The PSC began soliciting plans on June 22, before New York American Water’s July target date. Under the sale, NYAW’s Long Island operations — which services nearly 120,000 residents across three districts in Lynbrook, Merrick and Sea Cliff — would be handed off to Ontario-based Liberty, which operates water, wastewater and energy services in 14 states across 800,000 customers.

The sale was announced in November following years of criticisms from customers, lawmakers and watchdogs over rate hikes, spotty water service and infrastructure management. Long Island Clean Air Water and Soil, a Merrick-based advocacy group, had urged the PSC to authorize plans for a public takeover, arguing that another private sale would prolong the problems.

“Water is a basic human right, one that should have local and public control with local accountability,” wrote LI CAWS Directors Dave Denenberg and Claudia Borecky in a letter to the Town of Hempstead, pressuring Supervisor Donald Clavin and councilmembers to submit a plan of their own. Denenberg and Borecky argue that the 100,000 households served by NYAW within the town are not provided tax-free public water, while other residents in the town are.

According to the solicitation, the PSC seeks to “determine if the transfer to Liberty would be in the public interest, which could include considering viable potential alternatives.” Municipal entities and existing/proposed authorities within NYAW’s service territory may submit acquisition appeals. The submissions must answer which “portion of the [NYAW] system” — customers, infrastructure, etc. — may be acquired in a public takeover and why that acquisition is in the “best interest of ratepayers.”

The PSC is accepting proposals until August 3.