Acquisition pushes Aqua Pennsylvania’s water and wastewater customer base above milestone of 500,000 customer connections
Essential Utilities’ Aqua Pennsylvania subsidiary acquires Lower Makefield Twp. assets. (Credit: 后园 卓 from Pixabay)
Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE: WTRG) today announced that its Aqua Pennsylvania subsidiary has acquired the wastewater system of Lower Makefield Township, which serves approximately 11,000 customer connections in Lower Makefield, Falls and Middletown townships, and Yardley Borough, Bucks County Pa., for $53 million. The acquisition brings Aqua Pennsylvania’s total number of customer connections to more than 500,000.
“We are proud to be part of the wastewater solution in the communities we serve and are pleased to welcome the customers of Lower Makefield wastewater system to those we serve,” said Chairman and CEO Christopher Franklin. “We are proud that Lower Makefield leadership has put their trust in our company and has demonstrated confidence in our team to provide excellent service to their residents.”
Lower Makefield is the first acquisition completed by Essential’s regulated water segment in 2022. The company currently has seven additional signed purchase agreements for water and wastewater systems, which have a total purchase price of more than $418 million and represent approximately 224,000 equivalent retail customers or equivalent dwelling units.
Aqua Pennsylvania President Marc Lucca said, “The Aqua Pennsylvania team and I are committed to delivering excellent customer service to the residents of Lower Makefield Township and are already hard at work preparing to provide quality wastewater services to the community. Our plans include investing $10 million in infrastructure improvements to the wastewater system in the first 10 years, which will improve services and avoid the environment impact from sanitary sewer overflows.”
Franklin followed saying, “In addition to the investment we will make to ensure the reliability of their wastewater system, through the Essential Foundation, we are also proud to make a meaningful donation to the Lower Makefield Township Community Foundation, which supports environmental sustainability through its contributions to stream cleanups and tree-planting as well as other community needs. We look forward to continuing our work in the Lower Makefield community and building strong relationships with our customers.” Lower Makefield Township Manager Kurt Ferguson said, “We’re excited and grateful to receive this donation that will help our community and its residents as we continue to participate in activities that will ensure the health of our residents and community.”
Source: Company Press Release