Water/Sewer bill increase again...

[Dannielle_1]

UGH!!!

My bill went up over 25% and my usage was actually down a little bit from last month. I'm so tired of our high water bills.

What is everyone elses approx. usage per month and your monthly water/sewage bill?

Family of 3:
Last months usage: 4700 gallons - $94 ($63 of this is sewage)
This months usage: 4500 gallons - $125!!!! ($87 of this is sewage)


*** I just read my bill a little closer and it says that this in an "interim rate increase" hopefully that means it will go back down.

We have lived in this house 7 years and have slowly seen our rates go up and up and up and up. It is so frustrating. There is no other "water" option out there for us.

 

[Heidijs]

Wow, that's spendy. We use between 3000 and 5000 gallons in the winter...our bill is around $44-$45. Water is cheap here...it's the sewer rate that gets us. A few years ago it used to be like $50 every 3 months...then they built a new water treatment plant and now we pay that monthly just about...

 

[pilesoflaundry]

Family of 5. We consistently use 3000 gallons. Our bill is very cheap but we have super cheap water here. Our sewer cost is built into the bill, it's about $18.

I've wondered if something is wrong with our meter because our bill never varies. I mean at all. Someone told me that just means we are using less than the minimum so they bill us for the minimum usage so that's why it doesn't change.

We conserve carefully. I mean super careful. 5 minute showers, shut it off while brushing your teeth, we don't water the grass. I don't like wasting water.

 

[SaraJayne]

We pay right around $125 for sewer/water per quarter.

We have a new water treatment facility that has to be paid for somehow.

 

[kydisneyfans]

About 60-65 a month for sewer, water, and trash for the 3 of us.

 

[gvillemama]

I work for a water/sewer company and we were told yesterday by USDA that we have some of the highest rates in western Kentucky. A lot of it has to do with mandates from our bondholders (they set the minimum rate for our sewer that is the amount we would take it to pay our bonds each year).
The water minimum is 12.62 (that's for 0-1000 gallons of water usage); every 1000 gallons after that is 6.63. The sewer base charge (debt service) is $7.10; every 1000 gallons is 7.09.
So if a customer used 0 gallons, their bill is 19.72; if they used 1000 gallons, their bill is 26.81; if they used 4000 gallons (avg usage), their bill is 67.97.

It is actually very expensive to run a water/sewer plant(s). The state has put so many regulations on us that cause us to have to spend thousands of dollars a month of testing of our water; the trainings our men have to go through are very costly; and the chemicals that are used to treat the water cost over 20000 a year (a we are a town of 1400 people). One thing I will say is that if your water/sewer comes from a municipality, in order to raise the rates (or do anything money-wise), they have to amend an ordinance and it takes two readings for that to occur...that is two opportunities the customers have to come and listen to the rationale behind the increase as well as voice their opinions. We never have anyone come to our city council meetings other than those that have to be there, yet the day the new bill comes out with the increase rate, I probably have half the town calling and yelling at me.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

We avg. $75 a month.

 

[blanq]

We pay around $25 per quarter for water usage, and about $67 per quarter for sewer. I guess that is just over $30 per month for both, and it seems reasonable to me. I live in a suburb of the Twin Cities, MN.

 

[mistysue]

My sewer is $255 every 3 months. We have well water. It bothered me more as a flat rate when I was living here alone, now as a 4 person household it seems a little less crazy.

 

[CarlisleMom]

We get billed every other month. I just paid the bill for period 10/20 to 12/14 and the cost was about $80. Our usage was 15000 (from 874000 to 889000 actual reading). This is just water. We have a spetic tank so don't pay sewer. In the spring/summer our bill can get as high as $180 since we have an indoor inground pool that needs to be filled/topped during swimming season.

 

[QVCshopper]

I love these utility threads. Anyway, I'm trying to be green and save water and energy. On my last quarterly bill, I paid $40 for water and $28 for sewer--6000 gallons for my family of 4; I'm a SAHM and we're here a lot. Try shorter showers, not flushing the tiolet as much, not rinsing dishes as much/wiping food off, turning off the faucet immediately. Outskirts of Philly.

 

[torinsmom]

I live out of city limits, and my water bill is twice that of our in city limits neighbors. For 3,000 gallons, it is around $100 and then up from there. My water bill is often more than my electric bill.

 

[LMN]

Wow and I thought our water was high. I just pulled my bill from 11/11-12/4. For a family of 5 we used 5170 ga and our charge for water was $61.05. Sewer was $30.60. We also get billed for trash pickup on our water bill and that was $12.25. We are in Leander, TX (suburb of Austin)

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We pay around $30 / month for water and sewer - last month it was $31. We also conserve water, have rain barrels and never water the grass (rain barrels are for garden type plants).

 

[klynn]

We live in a small town west of the twin cities. We are a household of 5. Our water/sewer bill is always at least $125./month.

 

[Dannielle_1]

Well I guess at least I'm in the general range usage wise as others. And others have higher water bills as well.

When we first moved into our community, we paid approx. $80 every two months, but then the service was sold and the bills went up. I will say that they have done a lot of work on the treatment plant and there are a lot of main pipes that have to be fixed/replaced. There have probably been at least 4 main breaks since we've been here, one just a few weeks ago. And those aren't free to fix.

We try to conserve as well. Rarely run partial loads of clothes or dishes. Turn off water when brushing teeth. Don't water grass (we live in the woods, not much grass anyway.) Need to work on cutting back on running the water while rinsing dishes and probably need to work on taking a faster shower.

Thankfully, this isn't a buget breaker for us, but still frustrating.

 

[disneylove69]

I pay $87 a month for water and sewer. We pay flat rate so I pay as much as the family of 8 on the block.