Water Rates to Increase this February
The Eastern Municipal Water District announced today that they'll be raising rates by 14%. Customers will see the rate increase on stat...
http://www.menifee247.com/2009/12/water-rates-to-increase-this-february.html
The Eastern Municipal Water District announced today that they'll be raising rates by 14%. Customers will see the rate increase on statements mailed out February 1, 2010.
Last Wednesday, the EMWD Board of Directors voted to pass through a portion of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) rate increase to customers. As a result, tiered water rates will increase by 14 percent.
The EMWD gets most of its water from the MWD.
The MWD implemented a 19.7% rate increase last September, which added another $10.5 million to EMWD's costs.
"Water used to be free," said Randy Record, EMWD's representative on the MWD board. "But for us to make up for the loss of dependable water supplies from the Colorado River and from court-ordered restrictions on how much we can pump from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, we're having to pay others $200 or more per acre-foot for water transfers."
Most residential customers will see their water bills go up between 6% and 13%, depending whether they stay within their water budgets or use excessive or wasteful amounts of water.
Those who remain within their monthly water budgets will likely see increases from $1 to $6. Typical customers in excessive or wasteful tiers could see rate hikes of $13 to $32 or more.
Unaffected by the rate hike are the approximately 12,000 customers in the San Jacinto Valley's "Improvement District 24", also known as Fruitvale water customers, that are served exclusively by well water.
According to Ron Sullivan, EMWD board president, "We are forgoing projects and expenses that aren't needed right away for health, safety and reliability. But we also have to realize what would happen to our good credit rating (AA) if we didn't pass along these higher rates. If our credit rating dropped, our customers would have to pay more for future financing."
Last Wednesday, the EMWD Board of Directors voted to pass through a portion of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) rate increase to customers. As a result, tiered water rates will increase by 14 percent.
The EMWD gets most of its water from the MWD.
The MWD implemented a 19.7% rate increase last September, which added another $10.5 million to EMWD's costs.
"Water used to be free," said Randy Record, EMWD's representative on the MWD board. "But for us to make up for the loss of dependable water supplies from the Colorado River and from court-ordered restrictions on how much we can pump from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, we're having to pay others $200 or more per acre-foot for water transfers."
Most residential customers will see their water bills go up between 6% and 13%, depending whether they stay within their water budgets or use excessive or wasteful amounts of water.
Those who remain within their monthly water budgets will likely see increases from $1 to $6. Typical customers in excessive or wasteful tiers could see rate hikes of $13 to $32 or more.
Unaffected by the rate hike are the approximately 12,000 customers in the San Jacinto Valley's "Improvement District 24", also known as Fruitvale water customers, that are served exclusively by well water.
According to Ron Sullivan, EMWD board president, "We are forgoing projects and expenses that aren't needed right away for health, safety and reliability. But we also have to realize what would happen to our good credit rating (AA) if we didn't pass along these higher rates. If our credit rating dropped, our customers would have to pay more for future financing."
| Current Rates (per 748 gallons) | New Rates as of Feb 1, 2010 |
| Indoor (Tier 1): $1.301 | $1.483 |
| Outdoor (Tier 2): $2.381 | $2.714 |
| Excessive (Tier 3): $4.267 | $4.864 |
| Wasteful (Tier 4): $7.805 | $8.898 |
Thank goodness the water fees are going up. Hopefully this will discourage the egregious water use that occurs on a daily basis. Just take a stroll down any street and see how much water is wasted. People down here need to wake up and see that fresh water is a resource that is very limited in quantity and with climate change, whether you believe it's human induced or not, will make that quantity even smaller. So why not pay more? We all need to use less especially when making the choice to live in what is practically a desert!
ReplyDeleteNOOOOO!!!! I don't want the rates to go up. We keep cutting back, and the rates keep rising!
ReplyDeleteGood keep cutting back. The prices should reflect the true cost of water. People want things for free but they need to see the "Tragedy of the Commons" situation that will ensue if pricing action is not taken. This is a very serious common-pool resource dilemma. Human existance will be the victim of it's own overconsumption.
ReplyDeleteSo get a rainwater catchment system and water your lawn with that:) Time to change bad behaviors.
Our water bill doubled from 120 per month to 240 per month when EMWD changed to their tiered rates. Now they want to increase again! Our grass is dead in our backyard with numerous dead spots in our front yard. We lost several plants due to lack of water. Our cars are filthy and our driveway is dirty. They must be billionaires by now with all of the extra fees they are collecting with the auspice of conservation. Criminal.
ReplyDeleteSo why are new homes being built when we don't have enough water!
ReplyDeletePart of the problem is with our water source in northern California being closed off because of some tree huggers wanting to save a fish. I can not believe they are raising the rates again I have cut back all I can and still have 200+ bills . People are hard hit enough right now and this is not making it any better.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe how much I am paying for water! My average bill is $100 - up to $130. I think instead of punishing hard working homeowners, the bureaucrats in charge need to think of ways to streamline their department.
ReplyDelete