California Water Service Finalizes Acquisition of Skylonda Mutual Water Company

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- California Water Service (Cal Water) has completed the purchase of Skylonda Mutual Water Company’s water system assets, following approval by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last summer. Cal Water is the largest subsidiary of California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT).

Cal Water’s Bear Gulch District, which is adjacent to the Skylonda system, will now provide water utility service to Skylonda’s 156 customer connections. The Bear Gulch District already serves about 61,000 people through approximately 19,000 service connections in Portola Valley, Woodside, Atherton, and portions of Menlo Park, Redwood City, and San Mateo County.

Cal Water intends to invest in Skylonda’s water infrastructure to help it remain safe and reliable for customers’ everyday needs and firefighters’ emergency needs. Additionally, because Skylonda is between Cal Water’s Skyline system and the rest of the Bear Gulch District, the utility plans to interconnect the three areas to enhance water supply reliability to the entire district.

“We have appreciated working with Skylonda Mutual Water Company to complete the acquisition and help facilitate a seamless transition, so that we can best provide Skylonda customers the quality, service, and value that they expect and deserve,” said Marty Kropelnicki, Cal Water Chairman and CEO. “We look forward not only to delivering a reliable supply of safe, clean water to our new customers, but also to being part of their community.”

About California Water Service and California Water Service Group
California Water Service provides high-quality, reliable water and/or wastewater services to about 2 million people statewide through 496,400 service connections. It is the biggest subsidiary of California Water Service Group (Group), the largest regulated water utility in the western United States. In total, Group serves more than 2 million people in California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Washington, and Texas through its regulated subsidiaries, California Water Service, Hawaii Water Service, New Mexico Water Service, and Washington Water Service, and its utility holding company, Texas Water Service. 

What sets Cal Water and Group apart is their commitment to enhancing the quality of life for their customers, communities, employees, and stockholders. Guided daily by their promise to provide quality, service, and value, the company’s employees lead the way in working to help protect the planet, care for people, and operate with the utmost integrity. Integral to Cal Water and Group’s strategy is investing responsibly in water and wastewater infrastructure, sustainability initiatives, and community well-being.  The company has been named one of “America’s Most Responsible Companies” and “America’s Most Trustworthy Companies” by Newsweek and a Great Place to Work^®, and is No. 1 in Customer Satisfaction Among Large Water Utilities in the West Region* by J.D. Power.  More information is available at www.calwater.com and www.calwatergroup.com.

*California Water Service received the highest score in the West Large segment of the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Water Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study of customers’ satisfaction nationally among water customers in the US. Visit jdpower.com/awards for more details.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("Act"). The forward-looking statements are intended to qualify under provisions of the federal securities laws for "safe harbor" treatment established by the Act. Forward-looking statements in this news release are based on currently available information, expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections, and management's beliefs, assumptions, judgments, and expectations about Group and its subsidiaries, the water utility industry and general economic conditions. These statements are not statements of historical fact. When used in our document, statements that are not historical in nature, including words like will, promise, commitment, strategy, would, expects, intends, plans, believes, may, could, estimates, assumes, anticipates, projects, predicts, forecasts, targets, seeks, should, or variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. They are based on numerous assumptions that Group believes are reasonable but are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from what is contained in a forward-looking statement. Factors that may cause actual results to be different than those expected or anticipated include, but are not limited to: ability to integrate the business and operate the Skylonda Mutual Water Company system in an effective and accretive manner; natural disasters, public health crises, pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks of a contagious disease; governmental and regulatory commissions' decisions, including decisions on proper disposition of property; consequences of eminent domain actions relating to our water systems; changes in regulatory commissions' policies and procedures; the timeliness of regulatory commissions' actions concerning rate relief and other actions; changes in water quality standards; changes in environmental compliance and water quality requirements; electric power interruptions; housing and customer growth trends; the impact of opposition to rate increases; our ability to recover costs; availability of water supplies; issues with the implementation, maintenance or security of our information technology systems; civil disturbances or terrorist threats or acts; the adequacy of our efforts to mitigate physical and cyber security risks and threats; the ability of our enterprise risk management processes to identify or address risks adequately; labor relations matters as we negotiate with unions; changes in customer water use patterns and the effects of conservation; the impact of weather, climate, natural disasters, and diseases on water quality, water availability, water sales and operating results, and the adequacy of our emergency preparedness; and other risks and unforeseen events. When considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the cautionary statements included in this paragraph, as well as the Annual 10-K, Quarterly 10-Q, and other reports filed by Group from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Group is under no obligation, and assumes no obligation, to provide public updates of forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Contact: Yvonne Kingman, 310-257-1434