West Virginia Utilities May Get Deregulated

After the GOP picked up various seats in West Virginia during the November election, local officials say there is a chance water utilities could benefit.

"The Mountain State's swing toward the Republican Party in the November general election has set the stage for the possible deregulation of public water utilities, according to local officials," the Inter-Mountain reported.

Tom Landis, director of the Buckhannon Water Department, said the election results are significant.

"This couldn't happen at a better time. The political winds have changed. We think the groundwork has been laid," he said, per the report. "We think we're going to be successful when we ask for the total deregulation of the public water and wastewater utilities."

Tim Rock, Buckhannon's sanitary supervisor, described how cumbersome regulations affect his work day.

"One of the major issues with the over-regulation of public water utilities in West Virginia is the state Public Service Commission does not permit public utilities to keep funds on-hand to address problems, he said," according to the Inter-Mountain report.

He said that when a pump goes out, the utility cannot spend money to fix it, according to the report.

Landis said rules like this put utilities, especially smaller utilities, "in a bad way to try to get their system back up and running within a reasonable period of time," according to the report.

The political landscape shifted significantly in West Virginia during last year's election.

"Election night was bad for Democrats all over the country, but arguably there were few states where it was worse for their future — and better for Republicans — than in West Virginia," the New York Times reported. "West Virginia seems to have turned a corner from being a Democratic-dominated state to a Republican one."

The West Virginia Rural Water Association and other groups are advocating for fewer regulations for water utilities. The group helped pay for a study this year that "says the state public service commission over-regulates the utilities and is preventing them from providing better service to their customers," West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported.

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