New Water Rates for Wayland Approved

Tuesday night the Board of Public Works unanimously voted to implement a new water rate structure that consolidates the current six tiers into four and does away with the capital assessment charge that would have cost each account $251 in FY12.

The changes come as a result of a study and subsequent water rate options compiled by The Abrahams Group, an independent assessment firm.

. The third of those four options, which the board voted to accept Tuesday night, implements a service charge of $112 per account to cover billing, metering and administrative costs; abolishes the capital assessment charge and the minimum use charge; and consolidates the current six tiers into four.

Under the new rate structure many residential and commercial customers will see a decrease in their water bills of as much of 53 percent, though many higher-use customers will see an increase of up to 28 percent.

Specifically, zero-use customers, will all see a reduction of 53 percent as they will pay only the $112 service charge and not a miniumu-use charge. Flow-based charges begin with the first water used.

Low-end users, those who use less than 5,200 cubic feet of water, will see a reduction of up to 51 percent, while high-end users, those using more than 5,200 units, will see increases of up to 28 percent.

Mark Abrahams of The Abrahams Group said his group wanted to be “sensitive to an option that would protect the low-end user and the very high-end user,” so the increases to the highest users were as minimal as possible, including lower than residential and regular commercial rates in Tiers 3 and 4 for the town’s three “Commercial Interior” (or largest) customers.

The Board of Public Works has a revenue goal of $3.75 million, Abrahams explained, and this option will make it possible to achieve that goal while accounting for the reduced usage some households will implement when their rates increase.

“We see it all the time that as rates go up, consumption goes down,” said Board of Public Works member Chris Brown. “We’re shooting a little bit high. As people reduce their usage, which is a good thing, [revenue goals can still be met].”

The current rate structure would only have created about $3.5 million in revenue, so a change in water rate structure was deemed necessary. Water usage fees will now account for nearly 86 percent of the department’s revenue, while the service fees will account for about 14 percent of the 3.75 million revenue goal.

Under the current structure, usage accounts for about 68 percent of revenue and the capital assessment charge accounts for the other 32 percent.

The new tier structure is as follows:

Tier 1

• Residential customers using less than 1,500 cubic feet and commercial and commercial interior customers using less than 750 cubic feet will pay $5.10 per 100 cubic feet.

Tier 2

• Residential customers using 1,501-3,000 cubic feet and commercial and commercial interior customers using 751-3,000 cubic feet will pay $6.60 per 100 cubic feet.

Tier 3

• Residential customers using 3,001-8,000 cubic feet and commercial customers using 3,001-10,000 cubic feet will pay $7.55 per 100 cubic feet.
• Commercial interior customers using 3,001-10,000 cubic feet will pay $5.70 per 100 cubic feet.

Tier 4

• Residential customers using 8,001-plus cubic feet and commercial customers using 10,001-plus cubic feet will pay $12.50 per 100 cubic feet.
• Commercial interior customers using 10,001-plus cubic feet will pay $10.70 per 100 cubic feet.

The new rates go into effect Aug. 1.