(Chicago Sun Times) — The state of Illinois is giving the city of Chicago a $2million loan to help put more water meters in homes, state environmental officials announced Thursday. And two politically connected companies will help put in those meters, under a two-year, $13.5 million contract the city awarded in July to Professional Meters […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — In the worst recession in memory, Helen Duguay discovered that climbing utility poles is a better career choice than selling real estate. A former real estate agent out of work since May, the 43-year-old mother of five is learning to scale poles and operate a crane, a backhoe and other equipment […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — For four years, a Citgo gas station at 111th and Ashland got free water. An attorney with Mayer Brown, one of Chicago’s biggest law firms, got free water at his Lincoln Park home for nearly a decade. A Lincoln Square bar owner got free water for his new home for 18 […]
(AJC) — Next week, when Georgia Power begins defending its bid for a $1 billion rate hike as well as a new streamlined way to raise rates in the future, the company will face unusually unified opposition from major retailers. That opposition is coming from retailers who haven’t agreed with each other in years on […]
(AJC) — Georgia’s senators just fired another salvo in the state’s ongoing water wars with Alabama and Florida. Republican Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss on Thursday introduced legislation aimed at legalizing metro Atlanta’s disputed withdrawals of drinking water from Lake Lanier. Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson ruled in July 2009 that metro Atlanta […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Last year, 68-year-old Anna Falco paid the City of Chicago $339.43 for water and sewer service for her home, a one-story bungalow in Bridgeport. Just across the street, her neighbor, plumbing contractor Michael DiFoggio, paid only $175.59 — a little over half as much — even though his 7,231-square-foot home, complete […]
(Washington Post) — Pepco is drawing closer to the full-scale deployment of “smart meters” throughout the District, having rolled out 750 of the energy-tracking devices early this month and releasing preliminary findings from its metering pilot program last week. Read More…
(AJC) — When state utility regulators take up Georgia Power’s request for a $1 billion-plus rate increase three weeks from now most attention will be on the proposal’s size. But something more important to both the utility and its customers also is on the table. The company wants to do here what its Southern Co. […]
(AJC) — State utility regulators are taking the Atlanta Gas Light and Georgia Power rate increase requests on the road. In an unusual move, the Public Service Commission voted Tuesday to hold four public hearings apiece on the requests to hear from the two utilities’ customers. The hearings will be in addition to PSC’s regular […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Mayor Daley has “no plans” to privatize Chicago’s water system, but bottling and selling the city’s “exceptional” tap water is worth exploring, newly-appointed Water Management Commissioner Tom Powers said today. “The quality of the water that the department puts out is exceptional. In some cases, it’s better than bottled water,” Powers said […]
(Gazette) — A study is under way to document whether there is a need for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission to give minority- and woman-owned businesses a portion of contracts to ensure they are not passed over. Mason Tillman Associates of Oakland, Calif., is running the project through a $418,000 contract, which will evaluate the water […]