Palo Alto Water Rate Hike coming

It’s been a brutal few years for Palo Alto residents on a fixed income. Water rates have increased 35 percent over the past two years. Plan on another seven percent hike this July with similar increases expected the next few years.

The increase will add more than $5 to the typical residential water bill.

Blame an aging infrastructure for the increases. that snake beneath the city while increasing water storage in case of an emergency. Meanwhile, our supplier, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, is in the midst of a $4.6 billion infrastructure improvement program on the Hetch Hetchy system.

The Utilities website says “The utility financial projections have been showing the need for annual rate increases for some time now. We are currently midway through the process of paying Palo Alto’s share of the costs from the SFPUC system’s infrastructure upgrade program as well as those upgrades required by our own water utility. The FY2012-13 increase was double-digit for most customers; for 2013-14, a more modest increase is currently expected.”

Click here to view the Utilities Department’s 33 page report on water rates.

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