Water rate increases are on tap for Big Island customers, with consecutive 9.5% increases in standby and usage charges this year and next.
The Water Board on Tuesday set public hearings for May 24 in Kona and May 25 in Hilo before adopting the changes for the new budget years that start July 1. The board had opted for the increase over options of 12% and 8% presented by consultants Harris &Associates.
While the consultant usually conducts rate studies to set rates in five-year increments, the board opted to go with two years and then square up the projections. The consultant’s five-year rate schedule offers a road forward, but it could change after a planned workshop on rate structures and a “true-up” sometime midway through the five year-period, said consultant Ann Hajnosz.
The total bimonthly water bill for a customer with a 5/8-inch meter, using about 12,000 gallons per month, is $145.20. With this proposal of 9.5% increases, that would go up to $155.22; and after the second increment, it would go up to $166.10. The total overall percentage of what the typical customer would experience is about 7%, a consultant told the Water Board last month.
That’s on top of a 16% increase in the power purchase charge that goes into effect Sunday. With the 32-cent increase, a family that consumes on average about 12,000 gallons of water per month, will see its bimonthly water bill increase by $7.68.
The most recent increases for the county were a series of 5% rate increases in 2018 and 2019 and a 13% increase in 2021.
The water bill includes an energy charge, a water consumption charge, a set standby charge and a power cost charge that fluctuates with the price of electricity. The water department, a semi-autonomous agency, doesn’t get tax dollars but is funded by charges for its water service.
Although it seems that water rates — other than the power purchase costs, which depend on electric rates — generally go up, Chairman David De Luz said he did not want the rate payer to assume that every time there is a rate adjustment, it is an increase. He said he wants the board to get into the mindset that these are rate reviews. The board spends a lot of time and effort with the consultant and with the department in working through the process, he said.
The Water Board also approved on the first of two readings an annual operating budget of $61.7 million and a five-year capital improvement budget totalling $176.4 million.