Net earnings for Golden State and its parent company, American States Water Company, were $78 million in 2022. The latest hikes would yield an estimated $54 million more in revenues, in addition to nearly $341 million earned from water customers last year. The latest increases, set to be voted on Thursday, would come atop nearly 18% increases imposed from 2018 to 2021, and decades worth of hikes before that. And once again, the California Public Utilities Commission is poised to approve a legal agreement that would raise rates, this time by nearly 14% for her community through 2024, and on average by 15% across the company’s service area, from parts of Sacramento and Simi Valley to Los Angeles and Orange County suburbs, and desert communities like Lucerne and Apple Valley. Once again, Golden State Water Company, the investor-owned utility that serves her and more than 1 million customers in 80 communities across California, has asked for rate increases. Juarez and her neighbors soon could face even higher bills. With summer water bills that can approach $200 a month, “that’s just water down the drain.

Diana Juarez’ granddaughters, 9 and 11, want her to buy them a kiddie pool to splash in on triple-digit days in Niland, a tiny town tucked in California’s blisteringly hot southeastern corner.

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