California Water Service (CWT) Authorized for 3% Interim Rate Increase Effective January 2026
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Dec 29 2025
0mins
Source: Globenewswire
- Interim Rate Approval: The California Public Utilities Commission has authorized California Water Service to implement a 3% interim rate increase effective January 1, 2026, across most service areas to support essential infrastructure investments, ensuring safe and reliable water delivery to customers.
- Ongoing Infrastructure Investment: This temporary rate hike will enable California Water Service to continue necessary infrastructure improvements during the review of its 2024 General Rate Case, mitigating the financial burden on customers due to delays in decision-making.
- Customer Burden Mitigation: The CEO of California Water Service emphasized that the interim rate increase will alleviate the potential for higher retroactive recovery surcharges that could arise from delayed decisions, ensuring customers are not unduly impacted by future rate adjustments.
- Extensive Service Coverage: As the largest subsidiary of California Water Service Group, which serves over 2.1 million people across California and other states, this interim rate increase will help maintain service quality and reliability in its extensive operational footprint.
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Analyst Views on CWT
Wall Street analysts forecast CWT stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for CWT is 53.00 USD with a low forecast of 51.00 USD and a high forecast of 55.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
2 Analyst Rating
2 Buy
0 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 43.620
Low
51.00
Averages
53.00
High
55.00
Current: 43.620
Low
51.00
Averages
53.00
High
55.00
About CWT
California Water Service Group is a holding company that provides water utility and other related services in California, Washington, New Mexico, Hawaii and Texas through its subsidiaries. Its business is conducted through its operating subsidiaries and provides utility services. Its business consists of the production, purchase, storage, treatment, testing, distribution, and sale of water for domestic, industrial, public, and irrigation uses, and the provision of domestic and municipal fire protection services. It provides wastewater collection and treatment services, including treatment which allows water recycling. It also provides non-regulated water-related services under agreements with municipalities and other private companies. The non-regulated services include full water system operation, meter reading, and billing services. Non-regulated operations also include the lease of communication antenna sites, lab services and promotion of other non-regulated services.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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