Fairbanks utilities to pay $4.3M refund

FAIRBANKS - Fairbanks water and sewer utilities have been ordered to refund $4.3 million to local customers who were overcharged for more than a year.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska ruled last month that Golden Heart Utilities and College Utilities Corp. owe the refunds.

After applying for a rate increase in 2007, the utilities set their interim rates at a higher level than the ones that were ultimately approved by the commission. The refund was ordered to make up the difference.

The utilities are both subsidiaries of Inland Pacific Resources. They had offered an alternate payment plan that would have trimmed $1.2 million from the total refund. It was rejected by the regulatory commission last month.