Service charges, increases could balloon utility bills

Boulder’s monthly utility bills are comprised of charges for water, wastewater (sewer) and flood control.

Compared with 16 Front Range communities, Boulder has the highest rate for flood and stormwater management, the second highest rate for wastewater, and our water rates are higher than Denver, Fort Collins, Broomfield, Louisville, Longmont, Aurora, Arvada and Westminster.

A portion of our utility bills are fixed fees over which we have no control. For most residences, there is a $17.08 monthly fixed fee for water, even if you do not use a single drop, and a $14.18 fixed fee for wastewater. In addition to the fixed fee for water, you will be charged from $4.47 per thousand gallons, at the low end of the city’s water budget to $28.14 per thousand gallons at the high end.

In the winter, the city assumes all water winds up in the sewer, and you will be charged an additional $7.30 per thousand gallons to treat the resulting wastewater. But that’s not all.

The city uses the average water consumption for the months of December through March to bill for wastewater for the remaining eight months of the year.

So if you use an additional thousand gallons each month in the winter, assuming summer use with lawn watering exceeds the average wintertime use, you will be charged an additional $7.30 per month for each of the eight remaining months — a total of $58.40.

This is equivalent to an additional $14.60 for each thousand gallons a month used in the winter. This totals $26.37 per thousand gallons for water used during the winter months, 5.9 times greater than the water service charge of $4.47.

Furthermore, our utility bills will significantly increase to pay for the $56 million flood control project at CU South, the 308acre depleted gravel pit recently annexed to the city. The $56 million includes $4 million to move 150,000 cubic yards of earthfill (10,000 truckloads) to raise CU’S land above the level of a 500-year flood, and $2.6 million for the excavation and impervious groundwater barrier needed to squeeze the floodwater detention pond into the small parcel of land CU allotted for flood control.

Additionally, our utility bills will increase another $4.3 million to cover Plant Investment Fees the city waived for CU on top of the cost to treat 46 million gallons of raw water a year for CU, in perpetuity, in exchange for raw water from Dry Creek Ditch No. 2.

— Ben Binder, Boulder