Prairie Grove Utilities Rate Increase Notice

May 30, 2023

The Angelina & Neches River Authority (ANRA) has been the official owner of the Prairie Grove water system since July of 2022. Since ANRA’s initial involvement in September of 2020, crews have made numerous repairs and fixed dozens of water leaks. ANRA has spent a significant amount of time studying and learning the water system as we planned for upgrades that will ultimately create a new water system that meets all state and federal regulatory requirements.

All during this process, ANRA has been open and transparent about the ongoing deficiencies and severely degraded condition of the current system as well as what has to happen to bring the water system into compliance. In order to accomplish this, ANRA has to replace the two water treatment plants and 85% of the distribution system. ANRA has worked very hard to secure grants that will enable customers to avoid having to pay for the majority of the costs of construction for the new water system. We have successfully secured a 70% grant for the project

Future Improvements

In January of this year, ANRA submitted the final components of the application for funding to the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). The final application amount was $7.7 million. The proposed project will contain the following elements:

• Construction of a new 8” water supply line and master meter from the City of Diboll;
• Construction of a new booster station capable of serving 500 residential water customers;
• Replacement of 85% of the existing distribution system;
• Creation of a looped distribution system by constructing water lines that connect from FM 1818 and Buttermilk Rd, down to the intersection CC Rd, and back to FM 1818;
• Installation of fire hydrants at key locations.

It is important to note that the project has not yet been fully designed. ANRA worked with its engineers to develop these project elements for the purpose of developing a budget for the TWDB application, which is approximately a 20% design effort. Current economic factors, specifically inflation within the water industry, are significant drivers of the project budget. The final project budget will be set later this year and we anticipate it to be lower than the current project estimate because of contingencies that were placed in the budget.

We anticipate receiving loan commitment from the TWDB in July of this year. Once we are notified, ANRA will have six months to set the final project budget and actually close on the loan. The loan portion is 30% of the final budget amount for the entire project. Once ANRA closes on the loan, we will have to begin making debt service payments 30 day later.

Rate Increase

The implementation of the phased rate increases is being required sooner than anticipated because the TWDB is processing the funding application much sooner than expected. Therefore, this second rate increase will become effective on July 1, 2023 and will be reflected on your bill, which will be due July 10, 2023. This means that the bill that you receive in the mail at the end of June will reflect the initial increase.

This second rate increase is a significant increase in the base rate. It is necessary to implement this increase now so that ANRA can begin building up funds to start paying debt service on the loan portion of the project funding in January of 2024. The tables below compare the upcoming rates to existing rates and also provides example bill amounts for the rates as they relate to different water consumption levels:

Public Meeting

There will be a public meeting at the Diboll Civic Center on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at 5:30 PM to discuss rates and future improvements.

If you have any questions about the rate increase, water quality or service, please contact us at 936-632-7795 or via email at utilities@anra.org.