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The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Tuolumne County.
Like in many cities throughout the Peninsula, increased water rates from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission are being passed down to Foster City residents.
The new rate will likely go into effect during the next fiscal year, which commences next month, to keep up with higher wholesale rates from the PUC, where residents get their water.
The rates will depend on a few factors, including meter sizes. Monthly meter charges will range from about $28 to over $2,000, with progressive increases over the next decade. The majority of accounts use the smaller size — typically associated with single-family homes — and there are more than 8,200 water accounts in the city total, according to the staff report.
Projected water bill increases for single family residences are expected to increase between 3% to 4% each year as well, with this upcoming fiscal year showing a 4.5% increase.
“Essentially, you purchase your water from SFPUC, and any increases they make on the wholesale rate you have to pass through to your customers. And you’re looking at about an 8.8% increase on that wholesale rate. So that rate went from $5.21 to $5.67 per hundred cubic foot, which is about 748 gallons,” said Michael DeGroot, consultant at Bartle Wells Associates.
The issue is not unique to Foster City, as several other cities, such as San Bruno and Redwood City, have also grappled with ways to phase in the rate increase, especially in light of resident pushback over the changes.
“All these rate increases that happen for water and sewer in general are not used for any other city function. Those are strictly to cover the cost and maintenance for the water and sewer system,” Councilmember Sam Hindi said.
But the changes would have to follow Proposition 218, meaning if the majority of the parcel owners object to the proposed increases, they cannot be implemented. As of May 21, there were only three written protests, according to the staff report.
“We’ve devised a rate-smoothing model to use fund reserves to smooth that in over time and so you only need a 3.8% increase despite that large 8.8% increase,” DeGroot said.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
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JustMike650 said:
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(2) comments
This rate-smoothing model seems like a great way to go bankrupt. Customers should face real prices so they can make their own choices and conserve water, ask for raises, or change their living situation accordingly. If anyone has problems with inflation, those should be directed to their congressional representative who should work to get higher interest rates out of the Fed and decreased federal budgets.
Remember our so-called leaders telling us to practice water conservation? Well, less water usage means less money for water districts, meaning less money to pay for new and existing pensions and benefits. Another anticipated consequence. Essentially, we’re paying more for nothing. Kind of like Biden-flation. With Biden-flation, we get the added bonus of shrink-flation, paying more for even less.
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