RI Senate Seeks Auditor's Review of Kent County Water Authority

WEST GREENWICH, RI — The Rhode Island Senate has asked the state’s Auditor General to conduct a thorough review of the Kent County Water Authority and its operations.

Ratepayers have reported large and irregular water bills while receiving unsatisfactory answers, said Democratic Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis, who represents areas of Coventry, East Greenwich, and West Greenwich. Raptakis sponsored the request for an investigation by Auditor General Dennis Hoyle.

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“The KCWA has refused to listen to any of our recommendations and their behavior and service displays a level of disregard for their ratepayers that is truly unacceptable,” said Raptakis in a statement.

He added that efforts by legislators to intervene have fallen flat, and asserts that the water authority has been uncooperative and unwilling to address problems. “They even threatened to shut off people’s water during the pandemic,” Raptakis said.

The senator said he hopes a review by Hoyle’s office will shed light upon a set of longstanding-problems.

Cosponsors of the resolution included Sen. Hanna M. Gallo (D-Dist. 27, Cranston, West Warwick), Sen. Gordon E. Rogers (R-Dist. 21, Foster, Coventry, Scituate, West Greenwich), Sen. John Burke (D-Dist. 9, West Warwick), Sen. Bridget G. Valverde (D-Dist. 35, North Kingstown, East Greenwich, Narragansett, South Kingstown), Sen. Kendra Anderson (D-Dist. 31, Warwick, Cranston), Sen. Elaine J. Morgan (R-Dist. 34, Hopkinton, Charlestown, Exeter, Richmond, West Greenwich), Sen. Jeanine Calkin (D-Dist. 30, Warwick), Sen. Alana M. DiMario (D-Dist. 36, North Kingstown, Narragansett), and Senate Majority Leader Michael J. McCaffrey (D-Dist. 29, Warwick).

The resolution was seconded and passed by a majority of the Rhode Island Senate.

The resolution follows a letter sent to the Auditor General on February 24 where several Kent County legislators cited abnormal and dramatic increases in water bills that led hundreds of ratepayers to file formal disputes with the KCWA. In many cases, the increases followed the replacement of ratepayers’ water meters.