Thompson water utility customers will pay more for tap water and sewage disposal beginning July 1 now that the Public Utilities Board has approved the rates requested by the city.
In an April 19 decision, the PUB granted new rates that include a minimum quarterly fee of $100.76 for customers with a 15 millimetre service line (the standard size for residential customers) and a combined water and sewer rate of $5.60.
The new minimum quarterly fee, which includes 14 cubic metres of water use, is about 8.5 per cent higher than the previous minimum of $92.76 every three months. The new combined water and sewer rate ($3.81 per cubic metre of water and $1.79 per cubic metre of wastewater, which is equal to the amount of water measured by the water meter) is about 13.5 per cent more than the current combined rate of $4.93. The usage fees begin to apply once a customer exceeds 14 cubic metres of use in a three-month billing period.
The PUB order noted that water use in Thompson has steadily declined since metered water billing began in 2011, though the usage in 2020 was similar to what it was in 2019, which may be an indication that the usage has stabilized. However, 2020 and 2021 were the first years since Thompson residents and businesses started being charged for water by usage that rates didn’t rise form the previous year.
As water and sewer utilities in Manitoba must have balanced budgets and are not permitted to plan for a deficit, the PUB says it is bound to approve water rates that are reasonable, even though it received about 25 responses to a request for comments, with many indicating that existing rates were already too high and that unaccounted-for water makes the rates higher for customers than they otherwise would be. About 40 per cent of water treated and pumped out of the water treatment plant is not billed for, either as a result of leaks or being used for hydrant flushing or firefighting. The PUB says a good standard for unaccounted-for water is about 10 per cent.
There are 4,009 properties that are water utility customers in Thompson. The city had expected that number might drop somewhat in 2021 as a result of Vale further contracting its workforce in the city but that did not happen. Nearly 28 per cent of water utility customers with active accounts owed the city more than $92.76 as of Dec. 31 of last year. A resolution to add those unpaid amounts to property taxes has been tabled at one council meeting and then removed from the agenda at the outset at the subsequent one. Altogether, there are 1,336 customer accounts, active and inactive, that owed more than $92.76 as of last Dec. 31. That’s up about 46 per cent from last year, when there were 917 delinquent accounts eligible for transfer to property taxes. The total number of customer accounts that could be added to property taxes has nearly doubled over the past six years.
The PUB board order is on the agenda for council’s committee of the whole meeting on May 2.
