Austin Water tees up to propose rate increases to Council

Austinites can prepare to add their water bill to the list of services getting increasingly more expensive, as a proposal for hikes in utility rates makes its way through City Council’s pipeline.

The proposal, which Austin Water unveiled early last week, would see residential rates increase by 9.5 percent on average, bumping the combined water and wastewater bill for the average customer from $85 to $93.12 per month. Such figures are based on an estimated consumption of 5,800 gallons of water and 4,000 gallons of wastewater each bill cycle.

The proposed rate changes come after a smaller 3.3 percent increase took effect last year, which Austin Water said was needed to cover rising costs of water treatment chemicals, staffing and repairs to aging infrastructure. Now, the utility says a number of more expensive projects are needed to keep up with Austin’s continuing growth.

Chief among these are plans for significant upgrades to the city’s Walnut Creek Treatment Plant, which handles the majority of the city’s wastewater for processing and reintegration to the Colorado River system. The utility plans to expand the plant’s processing capacity from 75 million to 100 million gallons per day, alongside a number of upgrades to its treatment systems and flood resilience infrastructure.

Along with rate increases, Austin Water is proposing a number of changes to its rate design, with particular attention to the fixed fees issued based on five tiers of water consumption. Currently, residential customers sorted into tiers 4 and 5 – or over 11,000 gallons monthly – pay a flat fee of $29.75 per bill cycle. Under the new system, tier 4 customers consuming between 11,000 and 20,000 gallons would see a reduction to $23.04 in fixed fees, while the highest consumers in tier 5 would see an increase to $34.79. Staff says the approach would alleviate the financial burden to larger families while generally maintaining conservation incentives.

Those enrolled in the utility’s low-income Customer Assistance Program will also feel the burn, with proposed increases expected to raise participants’ bills by 20 percent. For the average CAP customer, that translates to a projected $47.53 per month, a nearly $8 increase from the current $39.60 average.

The utility also plans to raise rates for nonresidential consumers, with commercial customers shouldering the largest increase at 22.7 percent. The utility’s largest-scale consumers – which include Cypress Manufacturing, NXP, Samsung, Tesla and the University of Texas – will see increases of 11.4 percent, 15.5 percent, 14 percent, 18 percent and 18.2 percent, respectively.

Lastly, residents in multifamily complexes will see a considerable hike, with projected bill increases at roughly 16.8 percent.

The proposed rates will be one of Council’s many discussion items this budget season, which is due for a final vote in August. In the meantime, staff at Austin Water are continuing to iron out details, with plans to make its rounds to the city’s Water and Wastewater Commission next Wednesday, July 17.

Those interested in hearing more about the proposed rates in more detail can check out a host of recorded presentations, available at the SpeakUp Austin website.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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