Stormwater fee looks likely for PWSA customers

The Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority has secured an agreement with key stakeholders for a rate increase and a new, separate stormwater fee for customers based on how much of their property is covered by hard, impervious materials.

PWSA filed its rate case with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in April, asking to raise an additional $32 million in revenue over two years. The utility said it needed the money to fund operations, comply with various environmental orders, and continue its infrastructure plan.

On Tuesday, the utility proposed a settlement to that rate case that involves a lower-thaninitially-requested rate hike and a mostly unchanged structure for the storm water fee.

If approved, the settlement would mean that the average PWSA customer, using 3,000 gallons of water per month, would see their monthly bill increase by $5.65 next year and by another $1.44 in 2023.

The utility’s original request foresaw rates increasing by $7.85 in 2022 and $3.86 in 2023.

The stormwater fee will be assessed based how many square feet of impervious surface are

part of the customer’s property. The average residential customers, according to PWSA’s analysis of property records, will end up paying $5.96 a month starting next year, and $7.95 per month in 2023.

Currently, stormwater costs are folded into a customer’s wastewater charges. So separating the rates will mean a decrease in the wastewater portion of customers’ bills — that’s why the overall projected monthly increase for the average water and wastewater user ($5.65) is slightly lower than the storm water fee during the first year ($5.96).

Customers with less than 400 square feet of impervious surface will not have to pay a stormwater fee, while those who have more than 2,710 square feet will pay double the average amount. Those enrolled in PWSA’s bill discount program for low-income households will get an 85% discount on the storm water charge.

Non-residential customers will be accessed $5.96 a month for each 1,650 square feet of paved property they own.

If the settlement is approved, it would mean PWSA would start charging stormwater fees to new customers, such as parking lots, which currently don’t pay for water or wastewater.

PWSA said one of its primary goals is to reduce the volume of combined sewer overflow.

The utility first floated the idea of a separate storm water fee in 2018. Its executive director at the time, Robert Weimar, told the Post-Gazette that “if we can control the water on people’s site, then we don’t have to control it off their site. That’s the whole strategy behind this.”

PWSA rates have been climbing for several years as the utility makes it way through an infrastructure improvement plan meant to upgrade pipelines, increase capacity and replace lead pipes.

Its April rate request was filed just a few months after the PUC approved an almost 10% rate hike that took effect in January.

It is typical for rate cases to end in settlements where the approved rate increase is lower than what the utility originally proposed.

The current settlement represents the compromise reached between PWSA, PUC staff, consumer advocates and the city of Pittsburgh, all participants in the proceeding who submitted comments on the utility’s plan.

The new rates, if approved, will go into effect on or after Jan. 12, 2022.

As part of the settlement, PWSA agreed not to seek another rate increase until at least January 2024.

Details of the settlement are available www.pgh2o.com/residentialrates/our-water-future