The Missouri Public Service Commission announced Friday afternoon it approved an agreement filed by Missouri-American Water, the Missouri Industrial Energy Consumers (MIEC) and PSC staff which will raise the water and sewer infrastructure rate adjustment (WSIRA) on customers' bills.
According to PSC staff, state statutes provide eligible water and sewer corporations with the ability to recover certain eligible infrastructure system replacement costs without the need to file a formal rate case with the PSC. These investments in infrastructure are recovered through a WSIRA.
In this case, Missouri American sought to recover WSIRA qualifying infrastructure replacement costs incurred from Nov. 1, 2021, through April 30 of this year. These costs are not currently reflected in customers' bills.
A typical Missouri American residential water customer currently pays a monthly WSIRA of approximately 26 cents per 1,000 gallons. Under this agreement, the monthly WSIRA will increase to approximately 47 cents per 1,000 gallons.
For sewer customers, the WSIRA is based on a percentage of the total monthly sewer bill. Under the agreement, a Missouri American residential sewer customer's monthly WSIRA will go from nearly 2.6 percent of the total monthly sewer bill to 5.5 percent.
The changes are expected to take effect in August.