Homeowners in Rosharon subdivision paying over $200 for water, rates continue to rise

ROSHARON, Texas - Before moving to subdivisions, like Cold River Ranch, you might want to find out which company provides water service. A lot of residents say they pay more for water than electricity.

Rosharon homeowners in one subdivision upset over high water bills

What they're saying:

How much is Cold River Ranch homeowner Jacoby Frank's water bills? 

"$260, $364, $346, $361, too much," he said.

"The sewer is really crazy," said Steven Carter. "It's $110 dollars, just by itself."

"I moved here in 2021, I called and asked them then, they said they were already increasing in 2021. To be going up again in 2025 is a bit extreme I think," said Jessica Bellard.

The water company is Undine Texas. Google it and you'll find a lot of complaints about high bills, threats of disconnection, and poor customer service.

"I pay about $167 to $175. About five years ago, I was paying $75 dollars, and I actually have less people living in my house then I did back then " said Vicenta Yeager.

"When does it start affecting property values?" said Matthew Keillor. "Who wants to move into this neighborhood when they find out they have to pay $200 a month for water."

The other side:

In a statement, Undine points out it's a regulated utility under the jurisdiction of the Public Utility Commission and can only charge rates approved by the PUC.

Here's the full statement sent to FOX 26's Randy Wallace: 

Thank you for this opportunity to share our justification for this rate review and increase.  We are all especially proud of the improvements we’ve brought to the "aging" utility systems we’ve acquired across Texas. 

• Undine is a Class "A" Utility (defined as having over 10,000 residential connections) and we are under the jurisdiction of the PUC.
• Important for everyone to know – Undine is a regulated utility, under the jurisdiction of the Public Utility Commission and as such, can only charge rates that have been approved by the PUC and deemed just and reasonable to both the customers and the Utility.
• We have acquired ~ 20 water and sewer utilities serving nearly 200 subdivisions throughout Texas.
• You can see in the photos below, the nature of many of the systems we acquire and then the photos after we make necessary improvements.
• Undine has invested ~$40 million in utility improvements since our last rate review by the PUC in 2020.
• We have made a rate presentation available to all of our customers, on our website.  That presentation is attached above.
• Some of our customers take the position that no one has rates as high as Undine. That is incorrect. Rates are increasing all over the country to pay for outdated infrastructure (see that slide in the attached presentation).  While the City of Houston has relatively low BASE RATES , their escalating usage rate tiers become significantly higher than Undine rates, at higher volumes of consumption.
• For the procedural schedule of the rate filing, I’d refer you to the PUC Spokespersons.
• Customers were advised how to comment/protest or become an Intervenor ("party to") in the rate case by contacting the PUC.
• See our "before" and "after" system photos below:

Typical utilities Undine acquires:

After Undine makes capital improvements:

More Undine improvements:

Partial List of Improvements through August 2024:

SUMMARY

Randy, my final statement is simply:

Undine is acquiring utilities across Texas and in the past four years has spent approximately $40 million to bring these systems into regulatory compliance.  The PUC will determine what rates are needed to recover this investment. 

Utility customers should take comfort in the fact that the PUC requires utilities to only include costs that are "reasonable and "necessary" and "used and useful" in their rates.

- Undine Management

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