Lancaster water customers try to understand flat fees under new billing cycle [Lancaster Watchdog] - LNP | LancasterOnline

Lancaster water customers try to understand flat fees under new billing cycle [Lancaster Watchdog] | Local News | lancasteronline.com

Joe Mugavero said he had an “ah-ha lightbulb moment” while flipping through one of his most recent water and sewer bills.

Like other Lancaster water customers, Mugavero has been taking a closer look at his bills since the city moved from a quarterly to a monthly billing cycle. Several city residents told The Watchdog in November their bills had irregularities, which the city attributed to a bit of a rocky transition.

Mugavero said something didn’t feel right with his bills, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

He recently built a house in the city and, with no water usage clocked in yet, he assumed he wouldn’t have to pay anything for its first water bill. He was surprised to be invoiced $20.09.

With one call to the city, Mugavero learned the city tacks on some flat fees in addition to consumption-based charges.

“We might be fortunate enough to (be able to) pay that, but the average citizen is not going to be able to afford that,” he said.

Those fees are not new, but they might be more noticeable to water customers since the switch to monthly billing in August. Julie Taylor, the city customer service supervisor, said via email that rates vary by service line and meter size, which is noted on each invoice under “rate code.”

“If the property has an active service line and no use, there will be a minimum service fee for the water and sewer,” Taylor said. “The stormwater fee is charged whether the service line is active or not and is calculated (based) on the impervious area of the property.”

The flat fee for water usage is actually a charge for the service line and water meter. Mugavero’s new property is served by a ⅝-inch line (a common size), so he is charged $9.10 per month. The city also charges him a minimum fee for sewage at $7.86, which also is scaled to the size of his service line. With his stormwater fee of $3.13, that comes out to $20.09 when the service line isn’t in use.

For customers outside the city, those flat fees, for a service line of similar size, are $7.95 for a monthly water meter charge and $5.87 for a monthly sewage minimum charge.

Rates haven’t changed since quarterly billing, Taylor said, but look different now because they are spaced out over a three-month period.

Most city residential customers pay for water and sewer use at $6.84 and $10.99 respectively for every 1,000 gallons of water used per month. So they probably don’t see the minimum sewage charge as long as they’re using at least 1,000 gallons of water every month.

The water meter charge is tacked on to every monthly bill, independent of water consumption.

Rate changes

The switch to a monthly billing period might also make adjustments to the city water rates more noticeable. The latest update for city customers was early 2023, when City Council approved an average $20 quarterly water increase and $24 quarterly sewage increase.

Mayor Danene Sorace proposed a $4.50 monthly sewer rate increase in 2024, which City Council approved Tuesday night.

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The city provides water and sewer service to nine other municipalities including East Hempfield, East Lampeter, Lancaster, Manor, Pequea, West Hempfield and West Lampeter townships, and Millersville Borough. Water and sewer rates can’t be set by City Council for those customers and have not changed since June 2022 and March 2020 respectively.

Sorace said she expects outside customers will see a rate increase in late 2024 in an effort to balance revenue generated by city and non-city residents. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission will make that final decision.

A water distribution system improvement charge, set by the PUC, also is expected to go into effect in February. Sorace said the rate likely will be 3% of the amount billed per month, though it could be as high as 5%. The city would use funds generated by the fee to replace aging infrastructure.

For a complete breakdown of Lancaster city water rates, visit lanc.news/water_rates.

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