DPUC Approves New BHC Company Rates; Daily Three-cent Increase to Cover Cost of Laurel Dam Restoration.

BRIDGEPORT, CT--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 1999--The Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) has approved a 3.97 percent increase in BHC Company's Western Division water service rates, effective immediately, BHC officials announced today. The company's Western Division consists of about 24,500 customer homes in the towns of Stamford, New Canaan and Ridgefield.

The company applied for a $619,851 increase in revenue, or 4.1 percent over current rates, in March 1998 to cover the cost of the $3 million Laurel Reservoir Dam restoration and the higher cost of purchased water from BHC's Southwest Regional Pipeline. The DPUC approved a $607,313 increase.

BHC water service in its Western Division costs less than one cent per gallon. The typical family of four currently pays $0.63 per day, or $57.13 a quarter, for the approximate 18,000 gallons of water that it uses each quarter. The new rate approval means that the typical family of four will pay $0.66 per day, or $59.42 per quarter, for that same volume of water. Thus the new rates will increase customers' cost by three cents per day or $2.29 per quarter. Commercial, industrial and fire service charges also will increase by 3.97 percent. The rate application requested a reopening of BHC's last Western Division rate proceeding to include the Laurel Dam restoration cost in the company's rate base. BHC finished the project in late 1997.

The application also reflected an increase in the company's purchased water cost resulting from higher rates approved by the DPUC for service from the Southwest Regional Pipeline. Even with the increase, water service rates for BHC's Western Division will remain among the lowest in Connecticut. "This slight increase in water service rates is extremely important, because it will help BHC achieve its ultimate goal to provide the best water and service quality to our valued customers," said James S. McInerney, BHC president and chief executive officer. "We have delivered high-quality water and service to Stamford area homes and businesses for some 140 years, and we're proud of that record. We will continue to strive to be the areas's service provider of choice," he added.

The DPUC last approved a 5.1 percent rate increase for BHC's Western Division in April 1996. That approval simultaneously equalized rates for all customers in Stamford, New Canaan and Ridgefield. On July 1, 1997, BHC rates were reduced by 5 percent because of the Connecticut gross earnings tax repeal on water companies. The major subsidiary of Aquarion Company (NYSE:WTR), BHC is one of the 10 largest investor-owned water utilities in the U.S., serving a population of 500,000 in 24 communities in Connecticut's Fairfield, Litchfield and New Haven Counties.

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