Madison Water Utility seeks public input on new conservation rate

Madison Water Utility will be holding a public hearing on our rate case at the upcoming Water Utility Board meeting on Tuesday, November 25th at 4:30 p.m. The hearing will be held at our offices at 119 East Olin Ave.
 
Last month, Madison Water Utility submitted a rate application with the Public Service Commission seeking an overall 30% revenue increase, but at that time, it had not been determined exactly how our residential customers might be affected by the increase. (New rates based on cost-of-service will be established for the utility’s 5 customer classes: residential, multi-family, commercial, industrial, and public authority.)  

After reviewing the cost-of-service for our residential customers, the following residential rate structure will be brought before the Board:
 

• Base charges would increase for most customers by $2.62 per month.
• Usage charges would transition to a conservation rate, which means they will vary depending on the time of year and the amount used. Customers currently pay $2.81 per 1,000 gallons of water used.
• Under the conservation rate plan, during the off-peak season from October - May, customers would pay $2.96/1,000 gallons regardless of how much water is used.
• During the high-use peak season of June - September, customers would pay $2.96/1,000 gallons for the first 6,000 gallons used during a given billing month. After 6,000 gallons is exceeded, the rate would increase to $4.48/1,000 gallons until the end of the month. Even after the proposed increase, the water bill for a typical Madison residential customer will still be below the average Wisconsin water bill.

Click on the PDF attachment on the right side of the screen to see how a customer's bill could increase depending on usage.
 
We encourage customers to get detailed information about how much water they’re using by taking advantage of our new online conservation tool, which tracks monthly, daily, even hourly water usage. Customers can even set up email alerts, so they’ll be notified when their usage surpasses a certain number of gallons.
 
You can find more details about the proposed residential rate structure on our website, as well as Tuesday’s Water Utility Board agenda and agenda attachments relating to the rate case.
 

Links

• monthly_bill_with_fixed_charges.pdf