Utility Bill Increases

Hey gang - I couldn't find a category for this, so I'm starting a thread on utility charges. I just received my first utility bill of the year, and was shocked to read the following note at the bottom:

Water Rate: Increase from $2.18 to $2.56 per unit of water measured

Sewer Rate: Increase from $1.35 to $1.45 per unit of water measured

CRD Sewer Rate: Increase from $.3862 to $0.77 per unit of water measured

WTF is going on this town?!?! Water rates in the City of Victoria have increased 17.4%, sewer rates 7.4% and the CRD sewer rate charge has gone up a ridiculous 99.4%.

I suppose all of the recent hirings at City Hall need to be paid for somehow - might as well be through property tax increases and the additional hidden tax increases through jacking up our user rates.

Things need to change down there. Instead of sound fiscal management, we have a Council who is not shy to go back and stick it to the taxpayer. We have a Council who creates these ridiculous sinecures for managers. In a city of 78,000, we have a City Manager, Manager of Operations and a Manager of Corporate Services. WHY!?!? Not to mention a Communications Department the size of which would make Vancouver blush.

Again, I ask WTF!!?!? These unaccountable despots need to GO.

Good thing that this this story has been so well covered in the local press????????

WTF!

Unreal.

How did others fare?

^ I apologize for being naive as I live in the sticks where we drill for our own water and process our own sewage on the property.

Do people actually pay by the "unit" for sewage disposal?

Bob quotes two separate rates for sewage.....are there some that pay both?

Is there a turd meter buried under your front lawn?

What is the end result in monthly costs?

I can't believe I am so ignorant on this topic.

The two are separate rates. One is municipal (I think) and one is CRD. Why they are split I haven't the faintest clue.

As for a "turd meter," there is a a drainage meter that counts how much water your home flushes down the drain/toilet.

So essentially we're billed twice for water. First we're billed for gross water consumption, then we're billed for net drainage into the sewers.

^ Holy Crap....sorry...how much a month does this cost?

This was expected.
Revenue is down and costs are going up.

http://vibrantvictor...p?t=1420&page=6

As for a "turd meter," there is a a drainage meter that counts how much water your home flushes down the drain/toilet.

Mike, I am sorry, with all due respect, I just can't believe this.

Did this start when I was in rehab with Tiger ?

Is there such a job as a turd meter reader ?

I understand "water meter reader" and "hydro meter reader".

This sewage tax awakening is about to send me back to the ward.

There is no "turd meter".

The sewer rate is based on the amount of water you take in. Presumably, all water you take in goes back into the storm drains or in the sewer somewhere, unless you always go to the washroom outside of the CRD. Some evaporates though, I suppose.

There is no "turd meter".

The sewer rate is based on the amount of water you take in. Presumably, all water you take in goes back into the storm drains or in the sewer somewhere, unless you always go to the washroom outside of the CRD. Some evaporates though, I suppose.

You get screwed if you have an irrigation system. When I used to live in Saanich, the had some kind of formula where they used your winter water consumption and annualized that rate over the course of the year - presumably because one isn't using their sprinkler in the winter. Not sure what Victoria does - but knowing this kleptocracy, they likely charge it on a straight water in/water out basis.

You get screwed if you have an irrigation system. When I used to live in Saanich, the had some kind of formula where they used your winter water consumption and annualized that rate over the course of the year - presumably because one isn't using their sprinkler in the winter. Not sure what Victoria does - but knowing this kleptocracy, they likely charge it on a straight water in/water out basis.

You'd be right. Saanich bases it on your lowest of three readings in the year. Victoria charges you straight:

http://www.victoria....sewerrate.shtml

http://www.saanich.c...tilitybill.html

This was expected.
Revenue is down and costs are going up.

http://vibrantvictor...p?t=1420&page=6

The problem here is that someone at City Hall is under the false impression that they are working at a for profit business. If necessary revenues are down there needs to be some cost savings somewhere. The hiring blitz /explosion of management posts is insane unless you are a business that plans on making money from the work those new hires are going to do. Unless their business development plan is based around increasing the size of the tax base rather than the tax rates, their plans are going to do nothing but drive businesses are residents out of Victoria.

There is no "turd meter".

The sewer rate is based on the amount of water you take in. Presumably, all water you take in goes back into the storm drains or in the sewer somewhere, unless you always go to the washroom outside of the CRD. Some evaporates though, I suppose.

We recently had the City install new piping to the house from the main pipes and we were informed by the crew that they measure sewage. Perhaps the fellow was talking about something else, but I definitely understood that sewage was somehow being metered.

Ah well, at least that's cleared up

It's a typo. There is a third meter reader, besides the one who checks your gas, and the one who checks your water.

Sewer that goes!

So sewage outflow is metered?

So sewage outflow is metered?

No.

The problem here is that someone at City Hall is under the false impression that they are working at a for profit business. If necessary revenues are down there needs to be some cost savings somewhere. The hiring blitz /explosion of management posts is insane unless you are a business that plans on making money from the work those new hires are going to do. Unless their business development plan is based around increasing the size of the tax base rather than the tax rates, their plans are going to do nothing but drive businesses are residents out of Victoria.

This is simple. Water costs at CRD are relatively fixed and due to conservation, revenue has declined.
Kinda crazy, as they've been telling us to conserve to save money. Conservation may reduce costs down the road, but probably not by much.
Personally, I think the water billing is fine, but a 2 tier water billing system suggested in the other thread is a great idea.


Sewer costs are separate. As posted in the other thread and here http://www.victoria....s_crdbll.shtml:
Sewer charges are now tied to water usage and CRD sewer costs will no longer be levied on the property tax bill.
If you don't like it now, wait till next year when it goes up again.
And then we can all look forward to when sewage treatment costs really get going.....

This change is due to the anticipated costs associated with secondary sewage treatment mandated for the Capital Region. With the full implementation of the CRD's Liquid Waste Management Plan (to introduce secondary sewage treatment) the cost to the citizens and businesses in Victoria is expected to be significant. In the next 10 years it is estimated the City of Victoria share of these CRD sewer costs will increase from $5.2 million in 2009 up to $27.9 million in 2017.

So the sewer billing shift seems to me like a PR thing. The city distancing itself from the CRD's rising bills.

I looked at the rising rates a while back, I was wondering if a water barrel would pay for itself.

This year is not the first big increase, it has been happening for a couple of years. Total cost per unit of water is $4.78 now. Three years ago it was $2.64

Since I did the math last year and I have some new numbers to work with, here is my calculation of the cost effectiveness of rain barrels.

With this rate increase, a full 100 litre water barrel holds $0.68 worth of water. Given the $100 to $200 cost for the barrel, you need to fill it 150 to 300 times. If I manage to fill it about 8 times in a year and use that water, the pay back period is about 18 to 40 years.

Am I the only one that thinks 1/6th of a penny for a litre of water seems ridiculously low? Could we be in a situation where our expectations are a little too high about how affordable natural resources should be.

That payoff time for a rain barrel is sobering but there are still good reasons to do it. It could even ease runoff problems. You don't need an actual rain barrel. There are second-hand barrels used for food transport available locally that are almost identical but at half the price.

Our building, the Mosaic has seen big increases in the gas rate since it was built ten years ago. The biggest jump was in the first year--so big that we had to do a special assessment as the amount was much larger than we had budgeted. Years later we got massive five-figure rebate when it was discovered we were mistakenly paying the commercial rate but gas costs are still high. I would not recommend gas as a heat source for small condos unless the look of a gas fireplace is important to you.