Water Rate Adjustments to Appear on Bills this Week

 City water customers will be receiving their water bills, for water usage during January and February, within the next few days. These bills will reflect water and sewer rate increases which were approved by the City Council on October 11, 2010 and a prorated charge for those customers if their previous meter read date was December 31, 2010.

The new rate increase went into effect January 1, 2011 and includes a ten percent rate increase for water and a new minimum sewer charge. In addition, there is a sewer rate increase for tax exempt properties with sewer usage in excess of 100 units (1 unit = 100 cu ft) within the two month billing period.

Due to the nature of the Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system, approximately 5,000 of the 14,000 water bills have a previous read date of December 31, 2010. Because of this, these bills will have one day’s usage prorated at the old water rate with the rest of the usage billed at the new increased rate.

This also holds true in terms of the minimum charge, which will be billed as two separate line items on these 5,000 bills. In the interest of continued transparency, the calculation of the total water bill, including the prorated amount, will be shown on the bill.

For the majority of these 5,000 bills, the water usage prorated at the old rate was less than 20 units and the water usage summary will appear as follows (using an example of 16 units of usage):

Minimum Water Service Charge (A): $ 0.09
Minimum Water Service Charge (B): $ 5.84
Water Usage Over Minimum Charge @1.67 per unit (C) $18.37
Total Water Charges (D): $24.30

A= the prorated, one day, minimum charge prorated based on the old water rate ($5.40 for a 5/8-inch meter)
B= the new minimum charge ($5.94 for a 5/8-in meter) NOTE: this will be the minimum charge on all future water bills
C= the water used and billed in excess of the minimum usage of 5 units ($1.67 per unit)
D = the total amount charged for water for the billing period.

In cases where usage is greater than 20 units for the two month period, there will also be a prorated usage amount for one day at the old rate in addition to the minimum charge. The water usage summary for these accounts will appear as follows (using an example of 31 units of usage):

Minimum Water Service Charge (A): $ 0.09
Minimum Water Service Charge (B): $ 5.84
Water Usage Over Minimum Charge @1.52/100 unit (C) $ 1.52
Water Usage Over Minimum Charge @1.67/100 unit (D) $ 41.75
Total Water Charges (E): $ 49.20

A= the prorated, one day, minimum charge based on the old water rate ($5.40 for a 5/8-inch meter)
B= the new minimum charge ($5.94 for a 5/8-inch meter) NOTE: this will be the minimum charge on all future water bills
C= the prorated water used and billed in excess of the minimum usage of 5 units at the old rate of $1.52 per unit
D= the water used and billed in excess of the minimum usage of 5 units at the new rate of $1.67 per unit
E = the total amount charged for water for the billing period.

Since there is also now a minimum charge for sewer, the same breakdown for sewer usage will also appear on the bill.

Information regarding the new water rate is included in the message section at the top of the front page on the water bill. The new billing rates are provided on the back of each water bill and a copy of this page can be viewed here>>>

Additionally, information regarding the billing periods and the water and sewer rates is available on the city’s website http://www.cityofevanston.org/utilities/rates/ or by calling 3-1-1 or 847/448-4311.