KANAWHA FALLS, WV (WOAY) – Staff at the Public Service Commission have filed a petition asking the commission to open an investigation into both the water and sewer side of Kanawha Falls Public Service District.
The petition alleges that Kanawha Falls’s water and sewer services are “inadequate, inefficient, and unreasonable,” saying the district has been unresponsive to the needs of its customers and has not complied with commission orders.
“[Staff requests] the Commission find the District is unwilling or unable to adequately service its customers, that the District’s management is grossly and willfully inefficient, irresponsible, and unresponsive to the needs to its customers, and that it is in the best interests of the District’s customers that WVAWC be appointed as a receiver to operate the District’s system and assets in the best interests of the District’s customers,” the petition reads.
Specifically, the petition alleges that Kanawha Falls has not complied with the Public Service Commission’s rules for the government of sewer utilities, has not maintained a working capital cash reserve, and refused to comply with an order that it enter into an operations and maintenance agreement with West Virginia American Water.
“The Kanawha Falls Public Service District was determined to be a distressed water utility in Commission Case No. 22-0631-PWD-DU,” the petition states. “As a result of water outages, the Commission entered an Order dated June 2, 2025, requiring the District to enter in an Operations & Maintenance Agreement with West Virginia-American Water Company (WVAWC), which has not transpired.”
The petition alleges that Kanawha Falls board president Jonathan Grose no longer lives in the district’s service area and asks that he be removed from the board.
Staff are asking the Public Service Commission to petition a circuit court judge to appoint West Virginia American Water as a receiver of the district.
This petition comes amid the potential sale of Kanawha Falls and two other Fayette County public service districts to West Virginia American Water. Kanawha Falls has been routinely opposed to the sale.
West Virginia American Water and the Fayette County Commission filed a report with the Public Service Commission today, asking the Public Service Commission to proceed in an effort to find the fastest resolution to the sale.
“The Company and the County Commission are not opposed to a receivership and the efforts to remove the board member and they agree to participate in and support these efforts should the Commission respond favorably to Staff’s petition. This process is likely to be lengthy, and in that time sewage will still be running down Cannelton Hollow and Mount Olive Prison will remain at risk of losing water service. Therefore, the Company and the County Commission believe that the Commission should also proceed in an effort to find the fastest way to resolve these important service issues — whether it be by a receivership, a change in the Kanawha Falls PSD board that allows an agreement that includes all three
districts, or by the acquisition as initially filed in Case No. 25-0927-W-S-PC,” it reads. “The Company and the County Commission diligently prepared a revised asset purchase agreement and provided it for review, revision and ultimately agreement to all three public service districts. While Armstrong PSD and Page Kincaid PSD positively engaged with the Company and the County Commission, Kanawha Falls PSD did not. Without meaningful and productive engagement from all of the districts, regrettably the Company and the County Commission must recommend that the Commission proceed with the case as originally filed.”
Mike Teaney contributed to reporting in this story.
