Water pipe (Photo by Travis Modisette via Flickr | CC-BY-SA 2.0).
North Star will pay a fine for “significant service and reliability issues” in handling water for a Helena subdivision, according to an order this week from the Montana Public Service Commission.
Approved in a 3-0 vote, the order said the PSC will impose a fine, to be calculated after further investigation, for North Star’s failures in service along with its failure to cooperate with the regulatory agency.
After months of complaints from residents of the subdivision, estimated by one to be roughly 240 houses, the PSC said the utility has not been responding to the agency’s questions about alleged deficiencies, and it hasn’t even fully addressed the solutions it’s tried to implement.
Doug Boutilier, owner of North Star, said Tuesday in a brief phone conversation that he had not had a chance to read the order and did not have a comment until he reviewed it. He had not responded Wednesday by press time.
This summer and fall, residents of the development said the utility was restricting their water use so much, their lawns were turning brown. Some neighbors said they were losing their investments in landscaping, and the utility didn’t have enough water supply.
They also said North Star had implemented a boil advisory “due to potential contamination” at one point, but the reason for it wasn’t clear, according to the order. Many also complained about the lack of communication from the utility.
The Public Service Commission expressed those and other concerns in its order demanding responses from North Star.
“We’ve been waiting for compliance, and despite staff’s diligence and giving them ample opportunity, North Star has not complied and is deserving of the stiff consequences,” said Commissioner Annie Bukacek at the meeting.
According to the order, the investigation by the PSC started in 2021, and the issues still have not been fixed.
The order said regulators are authorized by law to obtain information from North Star, and the utility is obligated to respond, but it has yet to do so in a satisfactory way.
“Nothing in its (responses) demonstrates North Star is providing the reasonably adequate service mandated by (Montana law),” the order said. “Quite to the contrary, the information provided confirms North Star is not providing reasonably adequate service.”
For example, the order said the utility’s tariffs require it to charge a flat rate for water and a metered rate for usage above 10,000 gallons per month, but as late as August this year, at least 25 residences didn’t have working meters or didn’t have meters at all.
“North Star is therefore potentially charging unmetered residences and residences with non-functioning meters less than required by its tariffs and giving special privileges to those residences in the form of lesser charges, both of which are violations of Montana code,” the order said.
At the meeting, subdivision resident Ralph Jackson said he appreciated the questions the PSC was posing to North Star, and he said at least for the moment, some of the issues appear to be resolved.
“I even got my lawn to come back, so I appreciate that,” Jackson said.
However, he agreed the lack of meters was problematic, and he said until everyone had a working meter, North Star couldn’t accurately track the amount of water it was using.
The order from the PSC said the utility has blamed the lack of water supply on customers, alleging they are overusing water. However, the order said North Star “appears to have done little to address the alleged overuse.”
The order said the PSC will collect more information in order to determine a proper penalty, and it also will hear from North Star. It said the law allows a fine of not less than $100 or more than $1,000 for each offense, and each day a violation occurs constitutes a separate offense.
At the meeting, Commissioner Tony O’Donnell said problems at the subdivision caught his attention eight years ago. He said he appreciated the order the PSC was taking up and had wanted to adopt it much earlier, although KTVH reported he had pushed back on proposed fines in 2021.
“It has absolutely amazed me and befuddled me why the residents of the North Star have not had adequate service for this period of time,” O’Donnell said this week.
At the meeting, he, Bukacek and Commissioner Jennifer Fielder approved the order.