Water Prices Vary Wildly Across State
By Eric Eyre, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.
May 21–If you live in Charleston, you’re probably paying five times as much for tap water as someone who lives in Morgantown, according to a state Public Service Commission report released this month.
The PSC ranked West Virginia’s 413 public and private water systems by cost to consumers.
Morgantown residents pay an average of $8 a month for water — by far the least expensive rate in the state among large water providers.
“And that’s after our rate increase,” said Jim Green, general manager of the Morgantown Utility Board.
The Morgantown board approved the water rate hike last September. “We went from being the lowest rates in the state to the lowest rates in the state,” Green said.
So what keeps Morgantown’s water rates low?
The utility board keeps the 29-year-old water plant well maintained, Green said. The water system’s pipes seldom leak. The board rarely hires outside contractors, using its own engineers and employees to repair, renovate and expand the water system.
The Morgantown utility boasts a strong track record for collecting on its water bills, even though many customers are West Virginia University students.
WVU, the board’s largest customer, also pays its bills on time.
“They have a very large water customer that picks up a substantial amount of their fixed costs,” said Billy Jack Gregg, who heads the consumer advocate division of the PSC. “One of the great advantages to living in Morgantown is the low water rate.”
In Kanawha County, most West Virginia-American Water customers pay an average of $40 a month for water. Some Kanawha County residents in outlying areas pay as much as $50 a month, the 13th-highest water rate in West Virginia. West Virginia-American serves 165,641 customers.
Putnam County residents pay far less for tap water. The county’s 8,188 customers who are hooked to the South Putnam Public District system pay $22.53 a month, which ranks 140th.
The city of Hurricane’s water rates — with 3,194 customers paying $33.23 on average — ranked 296th.
Among all water systems, the Marianna Public Service District in Wyoming County has the cheapest rates at $2 a month for 4,500 gallons. Only 22 residents are hooked up to that system.
West Virginia’s most expensive water rates are charged to residents of the Coolfont Mountainside Association in Morgan County. The 114 Coolfont customers pay about $76.50 a month for water.
The association spent $250,000 to renovate the water system five years ago, said Jim Thompson, president of the homeowners association.
“We chose to increase the water rates, rather than doing a bond,” said Thompson, who lives in Arlington, Va., and vacations in Coolfont.
He said only about a dozen people live in the community year-round. Homes sell for $150,000 to $500,000. Residents are charged $17 for every 1,000 gallons of water used each month.
West Virginia’s natural gas, electricity and telephone rates don’t vary much from county to county, said Gregg. But “water and sewer rates are all over the place,” he said.
Customers who pay high water bills usually get their water from newer water plants.
“The upfront cost of building a new system is huge, especially when it’s a sparsely populated community,” Gregg said.
Water boards that operate older water systems usually charge lower rates, Gregg said, but such antiquated systems are a “ticking time clock,” subject to breaking down.
West Virginia-American Water’s monthly rates shot up 70 percent — from $23.53 to $40.20 – for Kanawha County residents since 1996, according to Gregg. The company raised rates after upgrading four water plants and expanding into underserved areas.
“The rates went up because of their major building program,” Gregg said. “Hopefully, they’ll level off now.”
The PSC also ranked sewer rates in its May 11 report.
The Cliffside Operating Association in Kanawha County has the lowest sewer rates in the state at $3.60 a month. The town of Fort Gay in Mineral County had the lowest sewer fees among public sewer systems. Coolfont Mountainside Association, which had the highest water rates, finished with the ninth-lowest sewer rates.
The highest sewer rates were paid by customers of the Cacapon South Utility Association in Morgan County. Residents there pay $200 a month for sewer service. Homes in the new development, which borders Cacapon State Park, start at $300,000.
The water and sewer rate rankings are available on the PSC’s Web site at www.psc.state.wv.us.
To contact staff writer Eric Eyre, use e-mail or call 348-4879.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.
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