Customer Water Rates

NEW 2008 WATER RATES: Bi-monthly billing for water service includes a minimum charge of $14.00 per two month cycle. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Lead and Copper rule requires increasing the water's pH level to reduce the water's slight corrosion of copper plumbing within homes. There is also a disinfectant requirement to assure safe drinking water. A $4.00 EPA treatment charge is added to cover equipment, maintenance, and chemicals required for these mandated treatments.

A $6.50 Capitol Projects Fee is also charged. This fee funds capital projects including: main relocations required by County and State road improvements, existing well site improvements, i.e. manganese filtration, and security improvements under federal Homeland Security requirements.

These fees, and the minimum charge, result in a total bi-monthly base rate of $24.50. To this base rate, water use fees are added based on water volume consumed. The following presents the increasing block rates used to calculate the bill. Note the water use is billed in one hundred cubic foot (equal to 748 gallon) units called CCFs.

The more water used, the greater the costs. While the year round average use for a home is about 2,000 cubic feet, water use more than doubles in the summer. This higher water use results in both progressively higher water rates and noticeably higher water bills during the summer, especially if you are frequently watering your lawn. The following shows the 2007 bi-monthly water rates. (See our Summer Water Conservation Checklist for ways to reduce your water usage and water bill.)

CCF=One Hundred Cubic Feet
1 Cubic foot=Approximately 7.5 gallons
3,500 Cubic feet-Approximately 26,180 gallons
7,500 Cubic feet-Approximately 56,100 gallons

Typical single family home seasonal bi-monthly bill at given water use: (one CCF = 748 gallons)
Winter:	1,500 cubic feet	$ 36.00
Summer:	3,500 cubic feet	$ 60.00
High Usage:	7,500 cubic feet	$ 128.00
Extreme Usage:	10,000 cubic feet	$ 178.00
(* Effective cost per CCF (748 gallons) including base rate, EPA treatment, and capital projects fee, and usage fee by volume.)

Your water bill bar graph compares your current use with last year’s use so you can set a goal of keeping your water use below last years, as well as keeping your summer use as close to your winter use as possible.

DELINQUENT BILLINGS AND DISCONNECTION CHARGES: Making your payments on time is important. 80% of the customers do submit their payments before the end of the month. However, the other 20% or 700-800 customers do not, which results in substantial extra time and effort spent collecting those payments. The Company's directors have authorized a late fee of $10.00 on an account when a delinquent notice is required and a $50.00 fee is added when a service is disconnected for lack of payments. The Board of Directors sincerely wants to reduce the number of late and/or disconnected customers, while insuring that timely customers do not bear the cost of collecting on past due accounts.

In and effort to make the bill payment process as easy as possible we are offering many options for paying a bill:. mail, night drop box at the office, drive-up window during business hours, phoning in with a credit card number during business hours or automatic bill payment.