Are your sewer charges more than your water charges?

[welovedurham]

Our sewer charges are more (but not that much) because they add in a storm sewer run-off charge based on our paved areas (driveway) and house footprint.

[rfb]

Originally Posted by Queen Mommy

Customer charge water 13.49 (flat charge to get water to the house)
5500 gallons @ .00394 21.67*
Sewer charges 48.81

Does this seem correct? I am amazed at how high the sewer charge is! It seems a little steep. Is this consistent with what others are seeing?

That is about right for Aqua. I used to live in Hawthorne in North Raleigh, which has a community septic system run by Aqua (Heater back when I lived there), and the sewage charges were about 2 times the water charges. Separate meters doesn't help, either - Aqua charges a flat fee based on water consumption, not on what they process in the community septic system.

[nickandy]

This is interesting because not all the water goes to the sewer. (Here is northeast we have a thing called lawn and we water them). So most cities charge for a higher amount for water and lower for sewer. It is interesting to see the reversal.

Having said that is about $27/mo. That is lot less than normal charges up here. Does this mean the average annual costs are like $300 range then. That sounds cheap to me.

I hear that Cary/ Raleigh charge excessive water usage. Do they have a tiered water rates so if you consume more than certain amount then your rate goes up or just flat rate?

Originally Posted by MammaLakn

Cary works that way as well. Our bill looks like this:

Water Base Charge: $3.07
Water @ 3.28 Per 1000 gallons 2.420: $7.94
Total Water $11.01

Sewer Base Charge: $3.07
Sewer @ 5.25 Per 1000 gallons 2.420 $12.71
Total Sewer $15.78

Thats for a period of 22 days btw, its our first bill in our new home.

[MammaLakn]

Cary has tiered rates.

See here:

http://www.townofcary.org/depts/budget/currentyearadopted/aob/utilityrates.pdf (broken link)

We had well water and a septic in MA, so Im not sure how Cary's rates compare.

Curbside trash removal is only $11.75 per month, which I think is very reasonable. In MA we had the option of taking our own trash to the dump for $150 per yr or a private trash removal company which set you back $60 p/m for basic service. We literally paid our town $4000 property tax per year to plow the road after a snow storm, bec we had NO other town services (my kids are too young for public school).

I didnt realize you were still in the Northeast. My Dh's employer relocated us, weve been here since NOV. Love it!

[BigMike50]

You have a sewer charge? and a charge to remove your garbage? Is it true you also have a road tax?

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Originally Posted by BigMike50

You have a sewer charge? and a charge to remove your garbage? Is it true you also have a road tax?

I think this is pretty common in most states. Maybe the tax isn't a line item in every state, but these municipal services have to be funded from somewhere. I don't get a bill from the police department, but I know my taxes help pay for their services too. How do they pay for garbage pick-up, sewer, and roads in Long Island?

My guess is these things aren't free in Long Island either.

Back to the topic, while I am not served by Aqua my city of Raleigh sewer charge is slightly higher than my water charge, so your bill sounds about right.

FWIW, I pay roughly $30 month for water, sewer, garbage, and recycling. (Family of 2)

[RDSLOTS]

Here in Cary, I have had (I hate to admit) some exhorbitant water bills -- but once I started paying attention to what we were doing (thank you, drought), I realized we were sprinkling a lot of water out on the (stupid) lawn.

It is a tiered-deal, and the more you use, the more you pay. While I don't agree necessarily with charging more for sewer, or like it, in theory I understand it. The water has to be treated.