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Residents fight expansion of water utility with history of fines

By Greg Suskin, wsoctv.com
By Greg Suskin, wsoctv.com

LAKE WYLIE, S.C. — Illinois-based Utilities Inc., known locally as Carolina Water Service, has a history of sewage spills, fines and battles over rate hikes.

Some York County residents are gearing up for a new fight against the utility because Carolina Water Service wants to expand.

The company applied with the Public Service Commission to be the water and sewer provider for a new community on Lake Wylie, according to an April 7 document obtained by Channel 9.

The community, Cypress Pointe, is a D.R. Horton development that will bring 358 new homes to Lake Wylie on Bonum Road.

Former state Rep. Ralph Norman, now running for Congress, has fought the utility for years.

He has often spoken out at Public Service Commission meetings against Carolina Water Service’s rate hikes.

"This is a call to action for all Lake Wylie residents," Norman said. "Their service, or lack of service, is dismal."

Norman is talking partly about problems in Tega Cay when the company was fined thousands of dollars for numerous raw sewage spills into Lake Wylie.

The city eventually bought out the utility and took over the system.

"We went through this for six or seven years with Tega Cay, and we finally got the job done.  We're going to get the job done in Lake Wylie," Norman said.

The Department of Health and Environmental Control fined the utility $10,000 this week for sewage spills on the Saluda River near Columbia.

A Channel 9 investigation from 2015 found that Carolina Water Service asks for a rate increase on average every two years. Those increases often topped 15 percent.

Count Smith lives in another Lake Wylie neighborhood where Carolina Water Service is his utility.  He said he's seen two rate increases in just five years and doesn't understand why.

"I don't think they're necessary at all. I think York County could run it all," he said.

Utilities Inc. spokesman Tom Oakley sent an emailed response Friday to questions about the opposition to their plans for Cypress Pointe.

"We have the ability to serve the community in question, and we feel that the development is in the public interest," Oakley said.

Opponents plan to take this issue to the York County Council and the Public Service Commission in the coming weeks.

Opponents are working on letters to developer D.R. Horton, and the Public Service Commission, allowing current Carolina Water Service customers to speak out.

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