“We appreciate the City Council’s support for conservation as a top priority for our community,” said Robert R. Puente, SAWS President/CEO. “The new structure will more accurately reflect the cost of service by charging more for water that costs more to develop. This helps keep water for essential residential and commercial uses more affordable for every customer.”
The new SAWS rate structure reduces rates for lower water use while raising rates for higher water use. Ninety-three percent of residential customer bills, for example, never exceed 17,000 gallons per month.
“It's not fair to ask all customers to pay more for the lawn watering desires of a few,” said Puente. “With this combination of new rate structure and rate increase, SAWS will be able to keep rates low for our average customers, and meet infrastructure needs for water and sewer in 2011 so we can provide sustainable, affordable water services for our community.”
The proposed 6.5 percent rate increase will pay for new water supplies and for the repair and replacement of aging infrastructure like water and sewer mains. With more than 5,000 miles of water mains and 5,100 miles of sewer mains, SAWS has plans for significant infrastructure investments around our community.
The new rates and rate structure will go into effect November 1, 2010, meaning customers will see the changes in their December bill.
Average Residential Bill
Assuming rate structure change and 6.5% increase
| Average based on 7,788 gals. water / 6,178 gals. wastewater per month |
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With
the exception of El Paso, SAWS has the
lowest rates of all major cities in Texas.
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