American Water is a utility without any realistic competition regulated by the vertebrae-free politicos in Trenton, New Jersey. Two strikes already. They are also in the habit of delivering the occasional nastygram via the USPS or email threatening to turn off service for no reason whatsoever after 20+ years of on time payments.
They're fat and happy alright and think nothing of the 30+ minute wait time to speak to a representative who can "usually" clear things up until the next errant message. Last time they changed my account number without telling me. It certainly keeps things interesting.
So, why the five stars? They deliver clean, fresh drinking water through my faucet with stunning regularity at a reasonable cost -- while far too many on the planet live without the security of knowing where their next glass of liquid anything is coming from. So, any bureaucratic snafu can be written off as a first world problem and par for the course where a near monopoly is involved. Five very easy stars for the water which I have never taken for granted. read more