Water rates (Vancouver: apartment complex, home, costs)

[friggsdottir]

We moved to Vancouver from out of state a few months ago, and every month, I'm surprised at my water bill. We have one adult and 2 children, and our bill for water alone averages $40. This seems to be a bit much. We are conservative with our water usage (we aren't even home 12 hours/day, I run the dishwasher once a week, the washing machine 1-2 times/week, we are careful about turning off the water while we brush our teeth, etc). This is almost double what I paid back in the South. Now we do bathe regularly (which our neighbors appreciate), but still.

I'm wondering if this is because our water is managed by our apartment complex, are they charging us more than the city would directly? I can't figure out the rates, someone please help me out --

On my bill from the apt complex, it says my rate for sewer is $0.040320 and the monthly charge was $25.280
For water, the rate is $0.014918 and the charge was $9.35

According to the city of Vancouver's website the charges are: :Water rates $1.47/CCF
and effective Jan. 1, 2011, sewer rates will increase 9 percent to $3.93 per CCF.

I'm also having a hard time understanding why it costs 3 times as much to get rid of the water than it did to bring it in !