CWA sets June 25
hearing for rate increases
By Joe
Naiman
The Alpine Sun
The San Diego County Water Authority has set a June 25
hearing for proposed rate increases.
A unanimous SDCWA board vote May 28 set the hearing time for
9:30 a.m. on June 25. The hearing will take place in the CWA
board room at 4677 Overland Avenue in San Diego and would also
approve the pro-rata allocation of charges based on deliveries
to each agency.
The proposed new rates would result in a 14.9 percent
increase in the municipal and industrial untreated supply rates
from $463 to $532 per acre-foot, a 22.3 percent increase in the
rate for untreated agricultural water from $322 to $394 per
acre-foot, a 6.3 percent increase in the Infrastructure Access
Charge from $1.90 to $2.02 per meter equivalent, and a 47.8
percent increase in the storage charge allocated to each CWA
member agency based on usage.
The rates are those the CWA charges to its member
agencies, who can either absorb the rate increases or pass them
on to retail customers.
Because the CWA's costs include the cost of purchasing
water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California and MWD has implemented a 19.7 percent rate increase
effective September 1, the new rates based on the purchase and
transport of water will take effect September 1 rather than at
the beginning of the calendar year as has been the case in the
past. The MWD board adopted its new rates on April 14.
The CWA's water rates are based on a melded rate
involving delivery of water from MWD and water purchased from
the Imperial Irrigation District under the Quantification
Settlement Agreement. The municipal and industrial rate per
acre-foot of untreated water increased to $463 in 2009 from $390
in 2008 and $365 in 2007. The surcharge for treated water, which
was increased from $164 per acre foot in 2008 to $168 per acre
foot in 2009, would be increased to $215 per acre foot.
The Interim Agricultural Water Program provided surplus
MWD supplies to agricultural customers at a discounted rate, and
the IAWP conditions allowed for a reduction of up to 30 percent
prior to implementing any mandatory reductions to municipal and
industrial customers.
MWD is phasing out the IAWP program, and the untreated
water rate per acre-foot, which increased from $241 in 2007 and
$261 in 2008 to $322 in 2009 would increase to $394 while the
treated water rate would increase from $465 to $587.
The CWA has adopted a transitional Special Agriculture
Water Rate, which is currently $412 per acre-foot for untreated
water and would increase to $484 per acre-foot.
The CWA's transportation rate, which is a uniform rate
set to recover capital, operating, and maintenance costs of the
CWA's aqueduct system, would increase from $64 to $67 per
acre-foot.
The Infrastructure Access Charge is used for CWA fixed
expenditures, which are incurred even when water use is reduced.
The CWA's Customer Service Charge, which is also intended to
recover costs, which support the operations of the CWA and is
allocated among member agencies based on a three-year rolling
average of all deliveries, was increased from $16,000,000 to
$18,000,000.
The Storage Charge, which recovers costs related to
emergency storage programs and is also allocated based on a
pro-rata share of deliveries, would increase from $23,000,000 to
$34,000,000 after increasing last year from $22,200,000 to
$23,000,000.
The CWA also has a Standby Availability Charge of $10
per acre or $10 for a parcel under one acre, and that remains
unchanged. The Infrastructure Access Charge, Customer Service
Charge, and Storage Charge increases would take effect January
1.
MWD also has a Readiness to Serve Charge, which is set
on a fiscal year basis and which also involves credits for the
standby charge and administrative costs. The CWA's share will
increase from $10,865,652 to $17,481,664 after increasing last
year from $9,782,918 to $10,865,652. That charge is allocated to
member agencies based on a ten-year rolling average of demands.
The MWD Capacity Charge, which is allocated to CWA
member agencies proportionally based on a five-year rolling
average of flows during peak periods, will increase from
$8,812,800 to $9,331,200 effective January 1 after remaining
unchanged between 2008 and 2009.
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