The San Diego City Council on Tuesday is set to consider a new structure of water rates that would lower bills for apartment buildings but increase them for most single-family homes.
The proposal is intended to bring the city into compliance with Proposition 218, a voter initiative from 1996 that regulates fees charged by local governments, including fees for water service.
In 2015, a group of water customers sued San Diego arguing the city's tiered rate structure for single-family homes violated Prop 218, which requires water agencies to charge customers no more than their proportional cost of the service.
The city argued the higher rates charged to the heaviest water users were a lawful way to incentivize conservation. But the courts sided with the plaintiffs, finding the city had not presented enough evidence to justify its tiered water rates.
San Diego charges a flat monthly water service fee as well as a "volumetric" charge that's based on water usage.
San Diego currently has seven different volumetric rates for different kinds of customers. Single-family homes are divided into three tiers — for low, average and high users — while separate rates are charged to apartment buildings, businesses, irrigation customers and temporary construction sites.
Under the new rate structure, all water customers would be charged the same volumetric rate — $11.09 per hundred cubic feet, equivalent to about 748 gallons. The fixed monthly charge would continue to vary based on the size of the customer's water meter.
The city estimates the new "unitary" rate would result in apartment buildings saving between 2.2% and 2.6% on the average water bill. Single-family homes in the heaviest usage tier would see savings of around 5.9%, while irrigation customers would save around 6.7%.
Single-family homes in the lowest usage tier can expect to see bills increase by 7.1%. Those in the average usage tier can expect bills to go up by about 5.9%.
Last year the council approved across-the-board water rate increases of 14.7% in 2026 and 14.5% in 2027 to account for rising water purchasing costs and the rising cost of San Diego's under-construction water recycling infrastructure. The increase planned for 2027 would still take effect, but be adjusted to transition to the unitary rate structure.
