Press Release

Pittsburgh Consumers Reminded About Upcoming PUC Hearings on Proposed Water, Wastewater and Stormwater Rate Changes

Published on 8/5/2025

Filed under: Water and Wastewater

In-Person and Telephonic Hearings in mid-August Will Gather Public Testimony on Rate Changes Proposed by Pittsburgh Water

HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) today reminded Pittsburgh area consumers about upcoming in-person and telephonic hearings on the rate changes proposed by The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (Pittsburgh Water) for water, wastewater, and stormwater services – impacting approximately 116,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the City of Pittsburgh and surrounding communities.

In Person Public Input Hearings

Two in-person public input hearings will be held in Pittsburgh, at the following times and locations:

• Tuesday, August 12, 2025 – Hearing starts at 1 PM.
  Grandville Hall Auditorium
  Jeron X. Grayson Community Center
  1852 Enoch Street
  Pittsburgh, PA 15219
  
  
• Tuesday, August 12, 2025 – Hearing starts at 6 PM.
  Hazelwood Healthy Active Living Community Center
  5344 Second Ave
  Pittsburgh, PA 15207

PUC Administrative Law Judges Emily DeVoe and Ann Quimby will preside over the public input hearings.  Pre-registration is not required for the in-person input hearings.

Telephonic Public Input Hearings

Two telephonic public input hearings will be held at the following times:

• Wednesday, August 13, 2025

                Telephonic hearing #1 will begin at 1 PM.

                Telephonic hearing #2 will begin at 6 PM.

Participating in the Telephonic Input Hearings

To testify at a telephonic public input hearing, you are encouraged to pre-register by 10 AM on August 13, 2025. Failure to pre-register could result in you not being called to testify by the PUC Judges.

To pre-register, please contact the PUC Judges’ Legal Assistant, Kayla Loukas, by email at kloukas@pa.gov or by telephone at 412-565-3550 and provide the following information:

• Your first and last name.
• The phone number you will be using to call into the public input hearing
• A phone number where you can be reached prior to the hearing, if needed.
• Your email address, if you have one.

If you need assistance pre-registering to testify, you may have someone register for you, but they will need to provide the PUC Judges with all the information listed above. Additionally, if more than one person in your household would like to testify, one person may pre-register for other individuals in the same household by providing the PUC Judges’ Legal Assistant with the information for each individual planning to testify.

Requests for Interpreters

If you require an interpreter, please pre-register as soon as possible and indicate the need for an interpreter. If you request an interpreter, the PUC will make reasonable efforts to have one present. The relay service for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing is 1-800-654-5988.

Hearing Exhibits

If you have any hearing exhibits to which you will refer during the hearing, please email them to the PUC Judges, Emily DeVoe and Ann Quimby, at edevoe@pa.gov and aquimby@pa.gov.  The judges will forward those exhibits to all the parties.

Exhibits for the public input hearing must be received by the PUC Judges by 10 AM on the day of the hearing at which you plan to testify.

Questions

The Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) represents the interests of utility customers before the PUC. If you have questions about the public input hearings or the Company’s requested rate increase, please contact the OCA toll free on1-800-684-6560 or by email at consumer@paoca.org.

Additionally, the OCA can help customers pre-register for the Public Input Hearings.

Proposed Pittsburgh Water Rate Changes

On June 4, 2025, Pittsburgh Water filed a multi-year rate proposal that would increase overall revenues for water, wastewater, and stormwater services by a total of $84.4 million – phased in over the next two years – including a combined increase of $63.6 million (25.4%) for the 2026 fiscal year, followed by an increase of $20.7 million (6.6%) for the 2027 fiscal year.

The multi-year proposal submitted by Pittsburgh Water includes the following increases for various services:

• For water services, the request includes an increase of approximately $42.7 million (26.3%) for 2026, along with a $14.4 million (7%) increase in 2027.
• For wastewater services, the plan includes an increase of approximately $14.5 million (24.9%) for 2026, along with a $5.5 million (7.6%) increase in 2027.
• For stormwater services, the proposal includes increases of approximately $6.4 million (21.9%) for 2026, along with a $788,574 (2.2%) increase in 2027.

A final PUC decision on the Pittsburgh Water rate increase requests is due by March 8, 2026.

Offering Testimony at a Public Input Hearing

The PUC offers tips on how to participate in a public input hearing, including:

• Prepare what you are going to say beforehand. Even though it is not required, you may want to write out your statement, which can be read.
• Any formal testimony that is offered during the hearing will become part of the record on which the PUC will issue its final decision.
• Understand that parties in the case may want to ask you a question to clarify something you said.

More information on the ratemaking process is available on the PUC’s website.

About the PUC

Visit the PUC’s website at www.puc.pa.gov for recent news releases and video of select proceedings. You can also follow us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. Search for the “Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission” or “PA PUC” on your favorite social media channel for updates on utility issues and other helpful consumer information.

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Docket Nos.:
R-2025-3055010
R-2025-3055011
R-2025-3055012

Contact:

• Nils Hagen-Frederiksen
  Press Secretary
  717-418-2701
  nhagen-fre@pa.gov