California Water to buy Casa Loma Water, Palm Mutual Water water utility assets

California Water Service (CWT) has signed agreements with Casa Loma Water and Palm Mutual Water to acquire both systems’ water utility assets. Casa Loma serves about 900 people through 237 residential and 11 commercial customer connections. The system is located three miles from Cal Water’s Bakersfield Operations Center and is surrounded by Cal Water’s existing service area. Because Cal Water has an existing intertie with Casa Loma, Cal Water will begin delivering water to these new customers after the acquisition is completed. Cal Water intends to install additional interconnections to help improve fire flow and system pressure, and plans to upgrade the infrastructure to Cal Water standards. Palm Mutual is located two miles from Cal Water’s Northeast Bakersfield Treatment Plant and serves 63 residential customers. Cal Water currently serves Palm Mutual through a master meter interconnection, since Palm Mutual does not own nor operate its own sources of supply. Cal Water anticipates upgrading the system’s infrastructure over time to facilitate consistent and high-quality operations. Both acquisitions are subject to satisfactory closing conditions and approval by the California Public Utilities Commission. Cal Water intends to file a Tier 2 Advice Letter requesting the adoption of existing Cal Water rates for the new customers.