In what has become an occasional holiday tradition, the Public Utilities Board of Manitoba (PUB) approved the City of Thompson’s water and wastewater utility rates just days before the end of the year.
In a Dec. 27 board order, the PUB approved 2019 water and sewer rates that will see Thompson utility customers pay more for their actual consumption of water but a lower service fee and minimum quarterly payment.
The quarterly service charge dropped from $84.23 to $23.74 effective Jan. 1, while the minimum quarterly charge, which includes 14 cubic metres of water, decreased from $135.61 to $92.76. The cost of bulk water went down from $4.90 per cubic metre to $4.03 while the reconnection fee remains at $320 and the hydrant rental fee at $125 per year.
The rate per cubic metre of water above the quarterly minimum of 14 cubic metres jumped more than a dollar, from $2.39 to $3.42, a 43 per cent increase. Sewage rates are going up from $1.28 to $1.51, or about 18 per cent. Since wastewater volumes are calculated based on the number of cubic metres of water customers consume, effectively the new combined rate will be $4.93, about 34 per cent higher than the combined rate of $3.67 in 2018.
A bylaw establishing the 2019 water rates received first reading at the last council meeting of the 2014-2018 term on Oct. 15.
Following the PUB’s approval of the transfer of water treatment plant ownership from Vale to the city in January 2018, the board held a public hearing in Thompson on the city's proposed 2018 rates, which had already been approved on an interim basis last Jan. 11. The board then approved the water rates but rejected the city’s cost allocation methodology (CAM) to determine how much spent in departments like public works should be attributed to the water utility and how much to general city operations. The city was ordered to submit a new CAM and 2019 rates for approval by Nov. 30, which the PUB received Dec. 3.
Under the now-approved CAM, the costs for meter reading and the utility clerk are attributed wholly to the water and sewer utility, while 10 per cent of the costs for the city manager, finance department, audits, the purchasing department, personnel, safety program, communications department and development services are allocated to the utility, based on the fact that 14 of 140 of the city’s full-time staff work for the water utility. Twenty-seven per cent of public works costs are allocated to the utility, since 14 of 42 public works employees work for the water utility. Two-thirds of sidewalk and curb maintenance as well as 10 per cent of sanding, paving and grading is allocated to the utility.
The PUB said the utility should include a 10 per cent contingency of variable operating costs in its calculations, which the city said it will include in its 2020 to 2022 rate application, due to be submitted by Sept. 30, 2019.
The board also approved the creation of a maintenance and equipment reserve for the water treatment plant to cover future replacement of plant machinery and other equipment. A bylaw establishing this reserve was approved by council last May.
