Water customers in the City of San Diego will be seeing another increase on future bills, but not quite as high as it could have been. The increase will be a combination of the city rate increase that took effect Sunday, September 1st, and another increase from San Diego County.
In a letter reminding customers of the rate change, the City of San Diego said the 4.82% increase will pay for, among other things, infrastructure investments, water quality testing, and costs that are passed down from other agencies.
Together with the almost 1.46% rate boost from the San Diego County Water Authority, the total increase for this year is 6.28%.
This is a bit less than the 7% increase the San Diego City Council authorized for the 2020 fiscal year. The lower increase is due, in part, to the greater availability of local water, as well as the public utility department’s refinancing of outstanding debt.
Shauna Lorance is director of San Diego's Public Utilities Department. She encouraged those who qualify to look into the bill payment assistance program.
“We know many of our neighbors have a hard time making ends meet and everyone probably has other things they'd like to spend the money on. If any of our customers need help paying their water utility bill they may want to look into our “Help to Others” or H2O program. You can call 211 and see if you're eligible,” Lorance said.
Customers living in a single-family home, and using about 9,000 gallons of water per month, will see an increase of approximately $5.58 on their monthly bill.
