Docket UW-000235          Page 1
BEFORE THE WASHINGTON UTILITIES AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

In the Matter of the Application  )
for Sale and Transfer of Assets,  ) DOCKET UW-000235
from Lacamas Farmsteads Water  )
Company, LLC, to     ) ORDER GRANTING APPLICATION
Washington Water Service Company ) FOR SALE AND TRANSFER OF
      ) ASSETS AND TARIFF ADOPTION
  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   )

BACKGROUND

  On February 17, 2000, Lacamas Farmsteads Water Company, LLC, (Lacamas 
Farmsteads) and Washington Water Service Company filed an application, in 
Docket 
UW-000235 for approval to transfer water system assets of Lacamas Farmsteads to 
Washington Water Service Company.  Lacamas Farmsteads is currently regulated by 
this Commission and serves approximately 110 residential customers near Yelm, 
in Pierce County.

  Washington Water Service Company is a Washington corporation formed to act as 
a utility holding company.  Washington Water Service is a wholly owned 
subsidiary of California Water Service Group located in San Jose, California.  
California Water Service Group currently owns 21 operating districts serving 
more than 400,000 customers in California. Washington Water Service Company 
located in Seattle currently owns  two operating districts in Washington with 
approximately 9,000 customers. 

  The benefits of this acquisition of water system assets include expanded 
financial resources, in house engineering, and water quality staff to provide 
all aspects of water system repair and operations.  Washington Water Service, 
through its South Sound district, will continue to operate the water system as 
it has for the past five years.

  As a result of this sale and transfer of water system assets Washington Water 
Service Company will maintain Lacamas Farmsteads current rates in effect.

  This Commission neither approves nor disapproves the reasonableness of any 
fees, charges, rates, or accounting allocations involved with the proposed 
arrangement and reserves the right to review those fees, charges, rates, or 
accounting allocations in a future rate proceeding.

FINDINGS

  THE COMMISSION FINDS:

  1. Lacamas Farmsteads Water Company, LLC, a Washington utility-, and 
Washington Water Service Company, -a Washington utility-, are public service 
companies subject to the jurisdiction of this Commission under the provisions 
of chapter 80.12 RCW.

  2. As to form, the application herein, meets the require-ments of chapter 
80.12 RCW and the rules and regulations of the Commission adopted pursuant 
thereto.

  3. The sale and transfer of water system assets by Lacamas Farmsteads Water 
Company, LLC, to Washington Water Service Company is reason-able and consistent 
with the public interest and should therefore be approved.

O R D E R

  THE COMMISSION ORDERS:

  1. After the effective date of this order and subject to the provisions 
hereof, Lacamas Farmsteads Water Company, LLC, is hereby autho-rized to sell 
water system assets to Washington Water Service Company under the terms and 
conditions of the proposed agreement filed as an exhibit in the application 
herein.

  2. No material change, revision, or amendment to the application and 
agreement shall become effective without the Commission's prior written 
approval.

  3. Washington Water Service Company shall file with the Commission within 60 
days after the effective date of this order, the journal entries by which it 
proposes to record on its books the transfer of water system assets authorized 
herein.

  4. The reasonableness of any fees, charges, rates, or accounting allocations 
involved in carrying out the provisions of ordering paragraph no. 1 of this 
order are neither approved nor disapproved in this proceeding.

  DATED at Olympia, Washington, and effective this 10th day of March, 2000.

  WASHINGTON UTILITIES AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION




      CAROLE J. WASHBURN
      Secretary