Water Utilities Department Redeveloping Billing Structure

For Immediate Release: Date: August 8, 2008
Contact: Robert Nelton: (561) 493-6062
Senior Public Relations Specialist County Water Utilities Department rnelton@pbcwater.com

In July, concern arose from a number of Water Utilities Department customers regarding the amount of their water bills compared to bills from previous months. An exhaustive investigation into the issue determined that:

• The bills were calculated correctly and according to long-established, written procedures.
• The meter readings were accurate.
• Customers were not overcharged.

The reason for the unexpected month-to-month variation was a combination of:

• high water usage in May,
• a hot, dry month coinciding with the beginning of relaxed water restrictions
• estimated May readings which were calculated based upon usage history during severe water restrictions
• the rate surcharge which went into effect on May 1, and
• the tiered rate structure which charges customers more per thousand gallons at higher usage rates.

The Water Utilities Department recognizes that high month-to-month variations in water bills impose a hardship to many customers. For this reason, the following actions are being taken to minimize such occurrences in the future.

The Department is working to develop a new billing rate structure to minimize fluctuations in customer bill amounts. The proposed rate restructuring will focus more on the base facility charge and less on commodity usage. This will moderate bills by tempering the effects of abnormal usage as a result of weather conditions.

In addition to this rate restructuring proposal, the County is moving forward with a transition to monthly actual meter readings via a combination of traditional manual meter readings and radio-read technology. This will eliminate the need for estimated consumption. The county already has 19,000 radio-read meters in service with plans to install another 17,000 in the next year. Additional benefits of the radio-read meter include faster leak detection and 96 days of usage history data allowing for detailed analysis of usage patterns.

The proposed new billing structure will be presented to the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners after January 1, 2009.