HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — UPDATE (9/14): At Thursday night's Huntsville City Council meeting, council members voted to approve an amended increase to Huntsville Utilities' water rates.
The changes to customers will be as follows, according to figures presented by Wes Kelley of Huntsville Utilities (original proposed rates will be in parentheses - these numbers were gathered from the original proposal, which you can see further down in this article):
Residential Rates
- First 3,000 gallons $1.70 per thousand gallons ($1.80)
- Next 3,000 gallons $3.21 per thousand gallons ($2.31)
- Next 6,000 gallons $3.48 per thousand gallons ($2.58)
- Over 12,000 gallons $4.96 per thousand gallons ($4.06)
- All sprinkler $4.96 per thousand gallons ($4.06)
An additional availability rate increase was made to 5/8" meters, to go from $12.34/month to $14.00. Otherwise, increases to all other rates, including commercial and industrial and wholesale customers, were approved as originally proposed.
Councilmembers said lowering the rate increase for the first 3,000 gallons would help ease a burden on low-usage and lower-income customers.
Kelley said the new rates may not go into effect on October 1 as originally proposed due to billing software updates that will need to take place. He suggested the change may instead happen in November.
Our original reporting continues below:
Huntsville Utilities customers could see a jump in their water bills if a proposed ordinance passes in the Huntsville City Council. The new rates, proposed during the August 10 council meeting, would affect residential and commercial customers.
The rate increase would be about 35% and, if passed, could start as soon as this fall. Huntsville Utilities says that the increase is necessary because of inflation, rising labor and materials cost, maintenance costs, and investments needed to manage and prepare for future growth in its service area. During the city council meeting, HU spokesman Joe Gehrdes said, "This is an introduction on a rate adjustment proposal...my intent tonight is to take a glance at what we will propose on the 24th when we will go deep into detail as to why this is needed." He also says that without these rate increases, the utility risks not being "cash positive" in the future.
Councilman Devyn Keith encouraged Huntsville Utilities to share their plans and presentations socially and transparently in a way that customers can understand, with everyday explanations, and to communicate directly with customers rather than council members bearing the responsibility of explaining it to their constituents.
The utility and city council are encouraging public input at the August 24 city council meeting. The proposed ordinance, including the rate increase, is below:
A family using 4,000 gallons of water a month could expect to see their bill increase by about $6-7 dollars. Adding 6,000 gallons of sprinkler use a month would add $12-$3 a month.