By By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
Some Washington water and sewer customers are paying for more water and sewer service than they use.
That’s because the city charges a minimum fee for providing water and sewer services.
The City Council, during its meeting last week, decided to wait until the upcoming budget-development process (which begins early in 2010) to address water and sewer fees. During the council’s Oct. 12 meeting, Public Works Director Allen Lewis was asked to determine the number of water and sewer customers pay the minimum fees but use less than the amount of water and sewer on which those fees are based.
For billing purposes, the minimum usage is 250 cubic feet, or 1,780 gallons, per month. Some customers are billed the minimum of $14.71 for water and $18.60 for sewer, even if they use less than the 1,780 gallons a month. Under that fee system, a customer who uses one gallon of water is charged the same fee as someone who uses 249 gallons of water.
Based on customer data for July, August and September, a monthly average of 1,655 water customers used less than the minimum amount but paid the minimum fee, according to Lewis.
“I was surprised at that number,” Lewis told the council.
For that same period, a monthly average of 1,602 sewer customers used less than the minimum amount but paid the minimum fee, according to Lewis.
Lewis also was asked to calculate the effect on revenues if there was no minimum-usage fee charged to customers and they paid for only what they used.
“In order to explain these effects, it is necessary to explain how the minimum figure is calculated currently. There is a charge for each customer based on the size of the water meter. This charge includes costs associated with meter reading, billing and other fixed costs not related to consumption,” Lewis wrote in a memorandum to the mayor and council. “For residential customers, this figure is based on a 3/4” water meter. The charge for water is $6.18 and for sewer it is $7.76. The rest of the minimum charges are based on 250 cubic feet of usage multiplied by the corresponding commodity charge for water and sewer. The commodity charge for water is $0.03412 and for sewer it is $0.04342. Thus the minimum monthly water charge is $6.18 + (250 x $0.03412) or $14.71. Likewise, the minimum sewer charge is $7.76 x (250 x $0.04342) or $18.60.”
Without the current minimum usage charges for water and sewer, the city would lose an estimated $205,737.48 in annual revenue, $112,176.73 on the sewer side of the equation and $93,560.72 on the water side of the equation, according to Lewis.
Under the current fee structure, the 1,655 water customers generated $24,340.15 a month during the three-month period studied. If those customers paid for what the used instead of paying the minimum fee, they would have generated $16,543.42 in revenue, a difference of $7,796.73.
Under the existing fee scheduled, the 1,602 sewer customers generated $29,797.20 a month during the three-month period analyzed. If they had paid for what they used instead of paying the minimum fee, they would have generated $20,449.14 in revenue, a difference of $9,348.06.
Councilman Doug Mercer said he became concerned about the minimum-usage fee after he received two consecutive utilities bills for his second home on the Pamlico River. Mercer said although the bills reflected different usages, the amounts he owed were the same.
When he asked about identical bills, Mercer said, that was when he was informed about the minimum-usage policy. That policy raised some concerns, including being charged when he may not use any water or sewer, he said.
“If I don’t use it, I get 250 cubic feet on water, 250 cubic feet on sewer on my bill,” Mercer said.
That policy seems a bit unfair, he added.
“I really don’t think you should pay for more than what you use,” Mercer said.
The councilman said understands that doing away with the minimum-usage fee would result in the city losing revenue, but he believes there’s a reasonable way to recoup that lost revenue, possibly by changing the fee to an equitable charge and each customer paying for actual usage.
“We’re just going to have to look at it,” Mercer said.