Sewer Rates (tanks, phone, natural gas, costs)

[Nancy Boniface]

Can anyone tell me why you need to pay sewer rates if your home is vacant?

[horseplayer]

the same

[desertsun41]

I guess for the same reason we are forced to pay school taxes when we dont even have any brats in school.

[North Beach Person]

Most sewer systems are financed by bonds which have a set payback rate (usually called a benefit charge on your bill). The terms of the bond require a minimum payment from each user in order to finance the bond payment. That is separate from the charges for maintenance and operations (the actual running of the sewer plant) for which there are going to be various fixed and variable costs. Built in to that billing will be charges that will be set aside for equipment repair and replacement, emergencies, etc. We are now charging people (mostly developers) who have bought sewer taps but not yet built anything to pay the benefit charge. That way they are helping to pay for the upgrades their projects will require rather than have current residents foot all the cost.

Depending on where you are public water and sewer generally makes your property more valuable. It also allows more commercial and industrial uses and a higher density. Not saying that's good, but that's reality. Some areas near me have fought public sewer for years and are now seeing the results of septic failures ( some multiple), polluted wells and businesses having to have their holding tanks pumped weekly.

[texdav]

Normally there is a minimum chardge for water anf the sewer is based on water usage.I thnik in my area the mininum is based on 4000 gallons of water and sewage basec on that 4000 slao.

[dynimagelv]

hmmmm maybe a "pay per flush" system.....

[wankel7]

I love my local utility.

I just moved in so they say I have no established history. So , they use the city wide sewer average of 10,000 gallons.

My bill comes every two months. In the first four months of my new house I have used 2000 gallons for the first period. 3000 gallons for the second period. What do i get billed on the sewer? 10,000 gallons.

They say I have to establish three bill cycles before they adjust my sewer rate.

Do I get a refund when it is obvious that I have been over billed. No.

The lady on the phone said...well I had to do it to. Thanks.

[windtimber]

Sewer rates are no different than other utilities. You pay a minimum fee for the connection to the system whether you use any of the service or not. Granted, you can have your garbage, water, electricity, natural gas, telephone, [i]etc[i]. service stopped. In our locality the water and sewer are provided by the same municipal utility so when the water is turned off at the curb the billing for the sewer stops. If there's a private water company and a municipal sewer system - and your agreement with the municipal sewer system has no correspondent relationship to usage from the water company - I can see where the sewer carries on. Particularly due to the fixed system costs as outlined in the post by North Beach Person.

[Cosmic]

Originally Posted by windtimber

Sewer rates are no different than other utilities. You pay a minimum fee for the connection to the system whether you use any of the service or not.

No that is not true. In some systems, you pay nothing for either water or sewer if your usage was nothing for the billing period. Boston used to be like that, there was no minimums, you paid a straight rate based on actual gallons, you were charged the sewer charge even if the water went on the lawn or whatever and never wound up in the sewer. Sewer charges were a fixed dollar amount per gallon of water used. Was billed as a separate charge.

Every system around the country can be different. In my area, there are city, town and county systems, none seem to have the same rules. Part of it might depend on what the objectives of the system is. Example: Boston wanted to limit overall usage and tried to use their rate system to reward low usage. If they could maintain usage within capacity that had a huge money ramification.

My present system is screwy. They want to bill for a minimum of 1500 gallons and you get wacked a minum charge around $20 even if you don't use a drop. Some systems, the more you use, the less you pay per gallon, nothing makes sense about some of the logic used.

My present system is geared to make the maximum amount of cash flow. If you are not hooked to the sewer (they still wrap you with a fee, not all areas have sewer service available, depending on elevation). The weird part is there is zero incentive to conserve water. My own usage is like 300 gallons a month, but who cares, I get billed for 1500, might as well wash the car a lot, water the grass, use them extra gallons. Even stranger, the system has problems with adequate capacity of reservoirs but they actually encourage waste. Not everything makes sense in this World.

If you are a total wacko, they will probably make you a big boss in some water system.

[windtimber]

OK, Cosmic, you're right. Some places don't charge for sewer service. And as you point out there are myriad ways of billing for utilities. The point being, there are legitimate reasons for a system to charge a minimum connection fee. If you're lucky enough to be someplace where they don't or their finances don't require it - good for you!