I have been looking ahead to the New Year that is right around the corner. The SAWS website includes details of the approved 2023 rate structure. It seems to include both good news and bad news.
Good News
The website summarized the approved Residential Water and Sewer Rates with these three points:
- 83 percent of residential customers will see a reduction in their water bills, and 100 percent of residential customers will see a reduction in their wastewater bills.
- The combined water and wastewater bill for residential essential use (6,275 gallons water usage and 5,062 gallons sewer usage per month) will decrease by 8.4 percent.
- Fixed charges will decrease by more than 20 percent for most residential customers.
SAWS’ rate structure is designed to provide a balance between residential and business rates and strengthen conservation.
Bottom line: the less water you use, the lower the rate you pay.
Bad News
The summary of the Landscape Irrigation Services Rates talks about inclining block rates. These inclining block rates for irrigation continue to send strong price signals for discretionary outdoor water usage.
Rough translation: outdoor landscape watering will be costly.
Impact On Our Community
Here in our Community we share six lovely common areas: Front Entry; Enfield Park-East; Enfield Park-West; Shadow Park-North; Shadow Park-South; and Misty Creek. All of these areas require irrigation and maintenance.
As we go into the New Year, we need to see what the increased watering costs will be. In the next newsletter we will detail the water usage and maintenance costs to maintain our Common areas.