The Oxford Board of Aldermen approved a 30-day extension to allow the city of Oxford and Punkin Water to work with the Public Service Commission to come up with a rate structure for the transfer of water service can be finalized.
A couple of months ago, the Board approved Oxford Utilities taking over the Punkin Water Association.
The Board put in a 60-day time frame to complete the due diligence work for the transfer and then a 10-day period for the Board to take a final vote on transferring the service.
Chief Operating Officer Bart Robinson said the city has performed the engineering analysis work and put together cost estimates, but is still working on creating the rate structure.
“We are now down to determining a rate structure we can get approved by the Public Service Commission,” Robinson said. “The issue is the 60-day due diligence time and the 10 days for the Board to make a decision, expires tomorrow.”
Robinson said the estimated cost to transfer the water service is $2.9 million.
Oxford intends to construct a water line to tie into the PWA System for the purpose of supplying water to PWA and make the necessary changes to the PWA System to better serve the members of PWA.
Residents receiving water from PWA have been issuing complaints to the PSC for several years over the quality of the water and poor management of the water association. Customers often complain about discoloration of their water and having to replace water filters almost weekly.
The Board voted unanimously in favor of granting another 30 days to allow all parties to work on a rate structure that would meet the PSC’s approval.
