Thursday, September 18, 2008

Denver Water Considers Higher Rates

(From an Article in the Denver Business Journal, Sept. 2, 2008) Water’s board will decide Sept. 24 whether to raise water bills by $19 to $33 a year for residential customers, depending on if they live in the city or the suburbs. The agency needs to raise an extra $18.5 million in 2009 to cover rising costs for maintaining and improving its water system.

Other projects in 2009 include the replacement and rehabilitation of aging infrastructure, Hayman Fire watershed recovery work, potential enlargement of Gross Reservoir and expanding conservation education, rebates and incentive programs, the utility said.
Increasing water rates will close that gap, the utility said, since it doesn’t receive any tax dollars.

Under the current proposal for 2009, reviewed by the Denver Water board, Denver residential customers would see their bills increase by about $19.14 a year, on average. Suburban residential customers served by Denver Water would see an increase of $33.12 per year, on average. The effects of the proposed changes on customer bills would vary depending upon the amount of water the customer uses and whether the customer lives in Denver or is served by a suburban distributor under contract with Denver Water.

The utility is also looking at ways to revise its rate structure for 2010 designed to encourage water conservation. Public comment on the 2009 water rate increase and the 2010 rate structure is being taken.

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