$116 a Month. Before a Single Drop. Today They Signed Off on Three More Years.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Media contact: media@votechrisjustin.com

NEW ORLEANS, LA — The Public Service Commission approved three more years of Magnolia Water's automatic rate increases after reviewing only the Louisiana company's books, never the Missouri parent's profits, then ordered an audit the public is barred from joining. Chris Justin, the only licensed engineer in the race, testified against it saying, "Don't rubber-stamp this self-dealing sleight of hand."

In Slidell, a Magnolia Water customer pays on average $116 a month before a single drop. That is the fixed charge, owed whether the tap runs or not. It is about three times the state average for water, and the highest water and sewer rate of any utility the Louisiana Public Service Commission regulates.

This morning, the Commission locked those rates in for three more years.

Chris Justin, a licensed Professional Engineer and No Party candidate for LPSC District 1, testified against the extension and asked the Commission to send Magnolia to a full, open-book rate case instead. He told the commissioners they had looked at only half the company.

"It's like a rich man holding one hand out, saying 'I'm broke, give me money,' with his other hand clenched behind his back. You would never just take his word for it," Justin testified. "This recommendation only looked at Josiah Cox's right hand: Magnolia Water, crying broke, charging three times the state average, billing Slidell customers $116 a month before they use a single drop. His left hand is the parent company, CSWR, and nobody in this room has looked at how much it is making off the backs of Louisiana customers. Don't rubber-stamp this self-dealing sleight of hand. Send it to a full rate case and make him show the riches he is hiding."

The Commission approved the extension anyway.

It also directed staff to open an "independent investigative audit" of Magnolia's billing, customer service, and acquisition practices, with findings due by February 2027. But the directive bars the public from any "intervention or participation" until staff finishes, it is scoped to the Louisiana subsidiary and does not open the parent company's profits, and it changed nothing about the vote. Three years of increases are locked in regardless. Magnolia's president told the commissioners he welcomed the audit.

No commissioner and no staff member examined the parent company's finances all morning. The only people who raised them were the customers at the public microphone.

A large share of that $116 never reaches a pipe. Magnolia is a subsidiary of CSWR, a Missouri corporation run by founder Josiah Cox, and in Louisiana, no one is allowed to see how much of the bill flows back to the parent. In Missouri, where those books are public, the company's executives gave themselves raises of 43 to 68 percent in a single year, and even after the state's consumer advocate called that pay excessive, regulators let them bill customers for it. About half the company's revenue goes to overhead instead of water. That is what turns up where the books are open. In Louisiana, they stay closed.

The Commission's own auditor, who confirmed under oath she is not an engineer, had testified she could not verify the $422 million Magnolia claims to have invested in Louisiana. "No," she said. "I can't verify that." Under the judge's own questioning, Cox conceded that the $422 million includes buying up other water systems, not just putting pipe in the ground, and that he could not say how much went to acquisitions. The Commission approved three more years on that record anyway.

Cindy Case-Brown, a St. Tammany customer who has fought the increases for more than a year, told the commissioners she had spent $9,085.23, nearly 15 percent of her annual income, over 13 months just trying to prove how her own rates were set.

"I should never have needed to do this. This is what you are elected to do," Case-Brown said. She pointed to the parent company the review left untouched: "CSWR has expanded into eight more states since it came to Louisiana. Show us the money. Clearly, there's a profit."

She is not alone. In a survey entered into the record, more than 95 percent of Magnolia's St. Tammany customers reported problems with their service, and the parish council had formally asked the state to step in.

"For three years, these families have had to prove they were being overcharged, while Magnolia never had to prove it wasn't. This morning the Commission made that the rule for three more years," Justin said. "Decisions like this are far too common here. It is too late to achieve significant savings for Magnolia Water customers anytime soon, but we have to do better. We have to fix how this Commission makes decisions, so that the next time a monopoly utility's docket comes up, someone on that panel knows how to stop it. I do. That is why this seat is on the ballot in November."

As a No Party candidate, Justin does not appear on closed-primary ballots but will be on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot. He is the only candidate in the race who has raised significant money while also pledging to take zero utility company contributions. His first policy pillar calls for utilities to fix what customers already paid for, and for investors who buy failing systems to cover the repairs themselves instead of billing captive families.

Voters can learn more at VoteChrisJustin.com.