The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission has approved a rate increase request from Pennsylvania American Water.

But the increase wasn’t as much as the company was seeking.

The announcement of a settlement between the PUC and PAWC brings to a close a nearly year long process – the company first sought the increases in April 2020.

Filings with the PUC indicates that the company was seeking rate increases totaling $138.6 million over two years – a 12.9 percent increase totaling $92.4 million in 2021 and a 5.8 percent increase on top of that – totaling $46.2 million – in 2022.

“One of the factors accounting for the need for rate relief is the Company’s substantial investment in new utility plant,” Pa. American Water argued in a PUC filing, calling the increases “just and reasonable” in order “to enable the Company to earn a reasonable return on the fair value of its property used and useful in the public service and to maintain the integrity of its existing capital.”

A proposed notice to customers filed at the time indicates the average residential customer consuming 3,458 gallons monthly would have seen a $57.85 bill rise to $65.91 in 2021 and $69.73 in 2022.

The PUC has announced approving an increase totaling $70.5 million over the same two year period.

However, the negotiated increase requires PAWC to “return $10.5 million per year to customers as credits on monthly bills during 2021 and 2022, returning excess tax savings for PAWC that accumulated as the result of the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2019,” per a statement from the PUC.

That statement also highlighted “enhancements to PAWC programs for income-qualified consumers, along with a series of COVID-19 measures.”

Among the COVID-19 measures are a provision whereby Pennsylvania American Water agrees to waive reconnection fees for customers at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level for one year. The company also agrees to “enhance its training materials and call scripts” to help staff address customers struggling to pay their bill, establish a low-income advisory group and “further promote” and contribute to PAWC’s H20 Help to Others Hardship Fund.

The new, increased rates were approved with an effective date of Jan. 28.