Columbus Light and Water customers will see a roughly 9% increase to their water and sewer bills starting next month.
CLW sent a notice to customers earlier this month that water and sewer rates would be increasing as of Saturday.
The average monthly sewer and water bill for a residential CLW customer in September was $51.77, General Manager Angela Verdell said in a statement to The Dispatch. Under new rates, that same bill in September would be $55.73 – $3.96 more.
The board was previously considering implementing the rate increase in January but moved it to November to address water and sewer infrastructure needs sooner, board member Robert Smith said.
“We need a lot of upgrades, and this was explained to us,” Smith said. “… The rate increase is a small portion of a larger overall need.”
The rate increase should generate $1.04 million in additional revenue, which will go toward covering general maintenance and capital projects for the city’s sewer service and water processing and distribution, Verdell said.
She said the additional revenue only begins to chip away at roughly $90 million in improvements CLW needs to rehabilitate its entire distribution system.
“This does not include any plant upgrades or additional lift station needs,” Verdell said.
The increase follows CLW’s decision to raise electricity rates by 2% and Tennessee Valley Authority’s customer charge for power by $2.50 starting in October.
The board decided on the new sewer and water rates at its September meeting and unanimously approved the increase, Verdell said.
CLW measures water usage in CCF, where one CCF is equal to approximately 748 gallons of water. Verdell said that CLW customers in September averaged about 5.5 CCF of water use, or more than 4,000 gallons.
Inside the city limits, CLW has increased water and sewer rates from $4 per CCF each to $4.36 per CCF, which is about a 9% increase.
For those outside the city limits, CLW has increased water and sewer rates from $6 per CCF each to $6.54 per CCF.
The increase is also the utility company’s second rate hike to sewer and water in the last three years. Both rates previously rose in 2023 from $3.43 to $4 to help fund capital improvement projects for both services.
CLW’s water and sewer division has about $3.3 million in debt with about $2.1 million of that debt set to retire in FY 2026, Verdell said. In reserve the divisions have about $9 million, which Verdell said is about eight months of water and sewer expenses.
“We want to assure our customers that these changes are necessary to maintain and improve our water and sewer systems,” Verdell said. “The increase will help cover rising costs to replace aging infrastructure, and ensure continued delivery of safe, reliable services.”
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