ALCOSAN Approves About 48% in Sewer Rate Hikes to Fund Its Consent Decree

Florida utilities under FDEP consent orders should read this as a preview of the bill, not a Pennsylvania problem. When overflow compliance is deferred until a regulator writes the schedule, the fix tends to arrive as large capital projects that ratepayers fund in steep, back-to-back increases.

Florida's systems are separate sanitary sewers, so our overflows are SSOs rather than combined sewer overflows. That is an advantage. Much of the wet-weather flow that overwhelms Florida lift stations and plants is extra water getting into the collection system through cracked mains, failed joints, manholes and private laterals. Finding and sealing that water is usually cheaper than building capacity to carry it, and it can be done in phases a rate base can absorb. Utilities can test that tradeoff with our I&I ROI calculator.

For contractors, the signal is that enforcement-driven programs come with long horizons and public scrutiny of every dollar. Firms that document footage, flow reduction and before and after inspection data will be better positioned when Florida utilities have to justify rate increases to their own boards.

For property owners, rate hikes tied to consent decrees land on every bill. Private lateral condition is part of that equation in Florida, which is why lateral programs deserve a place in the conversation before a consent order sets the terms.