Tallahasse may help with Wauchula water bills

WAUCHULA - A group of people in Hardee County whose water bills have soared may get help from Tallahassee.

They are getting bills for four, five or six hundred dollars a month, some even higher.

"I am not going to pay something I am not supposed to pay," said Otis Blantin. "You're not going to take money away from me when I work hard, and I have a wife and kids."

Blantin and his neighbors are going head to head with their new water company, Aqua Utilities Florida. An Aqua spokeswoman says the company has to charge what it does to pay for the repairs it has made over the last few years to the aging water system.

On Thursday, irate residents went to a Hardee County Commission meeting looking for help.

After what commissioners did, they may get it, eventually. Commissioners voted to ask the Florida Public Service Commission in Tallahassee to step in and oversee the utility company.

"The Public Service Commission can say you can't take this little group of people and charge them outrageously. You've got to spread that over your whole systrem," said Hardee Commissioner Dale Johnson.

A PSC spokeswoman says its staff can go over the utility company financial records to see if its overcharging. She also says the PSC can help people who have a problem with their utility bill.