Carolina Water Service has stirred a storm between state regulators.

On one side is the Public Service Commission.

As has been its practice, the PSC rubber stamped a new rate hike for the unpopular company that serves Lexington County home and business owners.

On the other side is the Office of Regulatory Staff, the research and investigative arm of the state’s regulated monopoly system.

ORS has asked commissioners to reconsider its approval of the rate hike.

“The ORS is seeking reconsideration in the hopes that the Public Service Commission will change its ruling to the benefit of Carolina Water Service ratepayers,” said Nanette Edwards, acting director of the Office of Regulatory Staff.

Specifically, the ORS petitioned the commission to rehear or reconsider its determination regarding six issues. The chief issue requires customers to pay litigation expenses relating to a federal court ruling that levied penalties against CWS for discharging raw sewage into our rivers.

The Office of Regulatory Staff’s stated mission is a complex one. It is to:

• Represent the public interest in utility regulation.

• Balance the concerns of consumers with the financial needs of monopoly utilities such as Carolina Water and SC Electric & Gas.

Critics and many state lawmakers call this an impossible task. Either you protect the consumers or the utilities but not both.

Lawmakers have been unable to come to any consensus on reforms to correct this, like other proposed monopoly utility reforms.