West Virginia American Water still considering buying Wood County public service districts

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - West Virginia American Water is still considering purchasing all of the public service districts overseen by the Wood County Commission.

The commission was approached last month when the company initially expressed interest. Commission President Blair Couch said that while nothing is set in stone, they’re continuing to discuss the possibility.

Couch said that they’ll be giving the matter more attention after they figure out the county budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which is currently the commission’s top priority. He said the commission will focus more actively on the possibility of West Virginia American Water purchasing Wood County PSDs next month. “We’ll have them up here in April to tell us what they’re interested in and how they want to do it,” he said. “They’ve requested certain information from the public service districts and they want to do on site inspections to see what they’re looking at. And we’re certainly open to any and all opportunities.”

Couch said that at this point, how exactly a potential acquisition by West Virginia American Water would effect rates in Wood County’s public service districts is unclear.