PSC Staff Says Water Company Slow To Share Data

The West Virginia Public Service Commission’s staff says West Virginia American Water hasn’t shared the information it requested regarding a November water leak and gas outage in Charleston.

The PSC’s staff filed a motion last week to compel West Virginia American Water to provide the information it requested in early December. 

PSC staff had asked the company to reply by Dec. 26. In its filing last week, the PSC staff says West Virginia American Water had failed to provide much of the requested information.

It accused the company of throwing “shade” on the PSC staff’s general investigation of the November event, which left hundreds of West Side residents without gas service, in some cases for weeks.

West Virginia American Water, in a subsequent filing, says a meeting will be scheduled this week with PSC staff to resolve the issues they raised.

In December, Mountaineer Gas sued West Virginia American Water, alleging that water from a broken main on Nov. 10 flooded its gas lines with water.

West Virginia American water has said it’s premature to pin the gas outages on the water main failure. It also said it would cooperate with the PSC investigation.