The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has approved rate increases for United Water Pennsylvania Inc.

The increases, approved Thursday, will raise United Water's annual revenue by $2.6 million. They are mostly related to water system improvements and higher operating costs, particularly treatment costs, the company said.

Average monthly rates for residential customers using 5,000 gallons monthly, including taxes and surcharges, will rise $2.52, or about 8 cents a day, according to company spokesman Bob Manbeck.

"Commercial rates vary considerably based on company size and other factors," he said.

United Water initially requested a rate increase yielding $4.94 million in additional revenue. The company said it has invested more than $23 million in system improvements since rates last rose in 2006.

United Water Pennsylvania Inc. serves about 56,000 customers in Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Luzerne, Perry, Schuylkill, Wyoming and York counties.

This item was modified from its previous version to include comment from United Water's spokesman about commercial rates.

York County's Wagman Construction Inc. recently broke ground on the third-phase of an affordable independent-living senior facility in Dillsburg, York County.

Westminster Place at Carroll Village is an $8.4 million tax-credit project that will include 29 units in a three-story building. It also will feature a lower-level garage and 12,000 square feet of first-level commercial space, according to Wagman. The company said it expects to finish construction this year.

Carroll Village is anonprofit senior living community owned by Dillsburg-based Presbyterian Senior Living.

Ritters True Value Hardware has pushed back the opening of its second store location in the West Shore Plaza by a week to March 22.

The 14,000-square-foot store in Lemoyne was scheduled to open Monday but needed a few final repairs before it was ready for customers, owner Jack Winchell said. The hardware store, next to the Karns Foods, will employ 15 people, he said.

Winchell said he didn't want parts of the store to be incomplete, which would be an inconvenience to customers.

Winchell and Jack Ritter own Ritters True Value in Mechanicsburg, which has been in existence since 1908.

Lancaster-based Herley Industries Inc. reported second-quarter net income of $3.8 million, compared with $2.2 million for the year-ago quarter.

The firm recorded earnings per diluted share of 27 cents, compared with earnings per diluted share of 16 cents in the year-ago period.

Analysts estimated earnings per diluted share of 19 cents, according to Yahoo Finance.

Net sales for the quarter grew from $40 million last year to $46.6 million this year, the company said late yesterday.

Shares of Herley, which designs and manufactures microwave products for the defense, aerospace and medical industries, are traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol HRLY.

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