Whistleblower » Blog Archive » Water-savers get no relief from water bills

Water-savers get no relief from water bills

Posted on May 12th, 2008 – 11:49 AM
By James Shiffer

From our online reporter, Tim Harlow

Over three months, Adam Stang never uses 10,000 gallons of water in his house. But that’s what he pays for, because the city of Lonsdale, a community in Rice County, charges a minimum fee based on 10,000 gallons of water use. That strikes Stang as bad public policy, because he thinks people should be rewarded for conserving water with lower bills.

It turns out that Lonsdale isn’t unique. In many municipalities, residents are charged for using a minimum amount of water, although the figure varies. Naturally they get charged more if they go above that number, but they don’t get a discount if they actually use less.

“Maybe 10,000 gallons for a family isn’t much, but I’m single and live in a condo,” Stang said. “It doesn’t make sense to bill me for more than the standard 1,000 gallon billing rate especially when fresh water is getting harder to come by. I could probably use less if I conserved water, but I have no incentive to do so.”

Lonsdale City Administrator Joel Erickson said that each of the city’s 1,300 households gets charged $32 for the first 10,000 gallons of water that are used during a three-month billing cycle. Any thing above that gets billed at $3.85 per thousand gallons used.

Erickson said the average customer in Lonsdale uses about 16,000 gallons every three months.
But in the case of Stang, he actually used 7,000, 6,000 and 9,000 gallons respectively - but was charged $32 as if he used 10,000 gallons. That’s certainly not an incentive to turn off the spigot.

“We do encourage conservation,” Erickson said. “But we have a minimum fee because we do have to make our payments.”

That would include maintaining the water lines and paying employees’ salaries.

In Eden Prairie, where the average customer uses 24,000 gallons every three months based on wintertime usage rates, the minimum bill a customer will receive is for using 4,000 gallons during the quarter, said Gene Dietz director of Public Works.

Few people get that low, Dietz said.

The rate of $1.65 per thousand gallons stays in effect until a customer reaches 150 percent of wintertime usage, or 36,000 gallons. That’s when they bump up to a higher price of $2.65 per thousand gallons.

Unlike electricity, which you pay for the amount you use, water bills are calculated on a minimum usage. Local governments want you to water your lawn sparingly and take shorter showers, but that doesn’t mean you’ll always pay less for doing so.

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40 Responses to “Water-savers get no relief from water bills”

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shortygirlk2 Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I live in Brooklyn Park, and I have the same issue. I pay the “minimum” fee during the winter, but then I pay for overages during the summer months due to watering of the lawn. It would benefit me if we paid on an annual basis and average it out (like a budget payment plan that the gas companies use). I know it wouldn’t happen because the city wouldn’t give up the extra revenue.
Mike Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I sympathize with Mr. Stang, but is it really worth getting worked up over less than $3/mo? Like it was noted in the article, these cities have to make payments to repay the cost of building the infastructure, maintenance, etc… Does there have to be a monetary inventive for anyone to do anything these days? I don’t get anything for taking my pop cans to the recycling bin at work, but I do that religiously, heck, I even grab cans and bottles I see other people taking to the trash and put them in the recycling.

Yes, the system could be better, but lets use our time and energy on something a little more worthwhile.
boomerb5 Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Hold on. Did I read that correctly? The avergae home in Lonsdale uses 16,000 gallons every three months, while the average home in Eden Prairie uses 24,000 gallons over the same span? 50% more water usage in EP? I know the cakeaters are all about conspicuous consumption? But do they really wash their clothes 50% more often? Take 50% more or longer showers? Although all those behemoth SUVs do need to be washed and the sprawling estates with non-native vegetation must be watered. Oh, and lest we forget the pools and hot tubs.
govcoverup Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Sounds like just another way for these cities to make money. Everyone is bumping up prices for everything. I don’t even know what taxes go for any more…Every bill has extra hidden fees. It is getting out of control!!
tony Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I agree with the Stang. Actually, electricity is the same way.
After all the fees and taxes my monthly 220 kwh cost me double what the electricity alone costs on a cents per kilowatt hour basis. Same with cable tv and cellphones I guess too…….
The Block Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
He should check his sewer bill as he’s probably being charged based on water use … and being overbilled there, too.
CJ Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I dont see the big issue. I think water is pretty cheap, relativly speaking and a minimum charge for having instant access seems reasonable to me.
kelly Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
We too live in Brooklyn Park and pay for a minimum of 40,000 gallons per quarter regardless of use. It was 50,000 gallons until 2008.

Wouldn’t it be smarter to cover the fixed cost of the water system through the fixed service charge and increase the usage charge to truly encourage conservation? Interestingly we pay 50% more sewer services than for fresh water.

Our last five quarterly usage bill have been 17,000, 13,000, 18,000, 16,000, and 15,000.
Bill Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Welcome to the world of utility management. The people who manage our power, water and gas have fixed expenses they must cover and this is how they do it. It would be better if the water utility just had a handshake fee like Xcel. I get a kick out of the people who think they are going to sell electricity back to Xcel when the spend big money on their own power generators like wind and solar. It will never happen and thats fine with me.
Bucko Says:
May 12th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
How would you like to live in Delano. We are charged an automatic fee for water of $8 then on top of that we have to pay for the winter rates of $5.62 per 1000 gallons and an add’l $3.93 per 1000 gallons. Basically, if you use 5000 gallons of water per month you have a bill of $55.75 per month.