Virginia Beach Water Bill? (Hampton: 2014, rental, utilities)

[Skylineview]

Since we will be getting the new increase on our water bills for trash in July, I am very curious as to what is the average water bill in Va Bch? What is yours averaging? Trying to be a bit more frugal here since we are looking at a 20 dollar increase.

[LilyLady]

Originally Posted by Skylineview

Since we will be getting the new increase on our water bills for trash in July, I am very curious as to what is the average water bill in Va Bch? What is yours averaging? Trying to be a bit more frugal here since we are looking at a 20 dollar increase.

I track our bills each month. After receiving our bill in January of this year, it seemed pretty high to me so I called the utility department. I was concerned that we might have a leak. I had mistakenly thought that all of the various charges were based on the amount of water used. The person that I spoke to in the Utilities Department told me that almost all of the bill is based on the number of days in the Billing Period. He told me that even if a customer did not use a single drop of water in the billing period, there would still be a bill of around 100.00.

In addition, I know you didn't ask, but I used to be confused (used to be?) about the difference between the Stormwater charges and the Sanitary Sewer Service Charges. Here's how it was explained to me: The Sanitary Sewer Service charge is for collection and pumping of household wastewater to the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) for treatment and disposal. The Storm Water Management fee pays a portion of the costs of providing and maintaining drainage systems that collect and divert rainfall and storm water runoff from the streets and property around our home.


Here's the breakdown:

For each residential property on which there are at least one but no more than four dwelling units, each unit is charged the same rate. Per the city's website, "The rate is referred to as the Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU). The rate for each ERU is .316 cents per day, or $115.34 per year." Yet when I spoke to the utility department in January, I was told that the Stormwater charge is billed at .37 per day. (It was actually .36? but apparently I didn't write down the full amount. In my notes I rounded it up to the next penny.)

The Sanitary Sewer Service charge is billed at .82 per day.

The Service Availability charge is billed at .14 per day.

The only charge based on water use is the Water Supply. The city website says the charge for that is $4.41 for each 1000 gallons.

Then there is a Utility tax and the Solid Waste Collection fee. When that was implemented it was supposed to be $10 a month. However, it too is prorated based on the number of the days in the billing period. Some months the solid waste fee (trash fee) works out to less than $20, some months it is higher than the $20.

I wish I could have been more encouraging. Although I didn't get very good news when I called the city, I feel that in all fairness, they were to be complimented on their willingness to answer my questions about the fees. You can find out the water and sewer rates for yourself at the city's web site Water & Sewer Rates :: VBgov.com - City of Virginia Beach or you can call the Public Utilities Dept at 757-385-4631.

[Skylineview]

Thank you so much for the details and amounts. I did go to the websites to check out fees, but was unable to find the storm water fee. This helped greatly!

[LilyLady]

Originally Posted by Skylineview

Thank you so much for the details and amounts. I did go to the websites to check out fees, but was unable to find the storm water fee. This helped greatly!

Glad I could help.

[karenblan]

Please see my new post today: Solid waste collection fee on water bill
The fee is $21.36 a month and will increase on July 1, 2014. Highway robbery.

[LilyLady]

Originally Posted by karenblan

Please see my new post today: Solid waste collection fee on water bill
The fee is $21.36 a month and will increase on July 1, 2014. Highway robbery.

I agree.

[crbnldy]

Total for water usage for me from my last bill was 9.91 yet my entire bill was 161.81. Could someone explain to me why I have to pay this much for water and trash. Time to make a differnce when it it time to vote for city council members.

[scootiepie]

Ours was around $200. I can not for the life of me figure out why it is so high and keeps getting higher.

[Lgilliki]

Feb 2012-129
Feb 2013-165
Feb 2014-220

What is going on?

[karenblan]

so glad to see that others are taking a look at their bills. The city council decided to take away our free trash pick up and put the money that was in the fund elsewhere...I wonder where that went? I am hopping mad about it and would surely be up to take a stand against the city for just outright raising our fees and continuing to do so. A lot of people I know or knew have left V.B. because the total cost of living is outrageous. That is unless they are in the military and get all of the breaks, even on rental fees, not to mention everything else.