Robson Ranch residents near Eloy saw their average combined water and sewer bill nearly double, and on October 6 Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed an opening brief in the Arizona Court of Appeals, asking judges to send back the rate increases that took it from $72.01 to $143.59 a month. The jump is $71.58 every month, about $859 a year. The Arizona Corporation Commission approved the increases for Picacho Water and Picacho Sewer in March. Mayes says the commission never examined the sale that put the two utilities in new hands only four months before they asked for more money.
The two utilities serve a 3,000-acre community in Pinal County: Picacho Water has about 1,900 customers and Picacho Sewer about 1,800, according to the commission. KJZZ reported that Robson Ranch is a 55-and-older community, so many of the households paying the new bills are older homeowners. The attorney general’s release gives no date for a ruling and does not mention a pause in the new rates. For a household whose water and sewer charges roughly doubled, the immediate question is what help exists for the rest of the monthly utility budget…