Water rates will rise, but hurt less than expected
San Diego’s main water seller OK’d a less-doomy price increase than the region was expecting, setting it at 14 percent on Thursday. To make that work, the San Diego County Water Authority will have to find $2 million it can cut from its budget and delay some anti-earthquake-related upgrades to its biggest aqueducts. Those cuts save ratepayers from an anticipated 18 percent beginning January 1. But 14 percent is still the largest annual rate increase on the wholesale price of San Diego water since 2011, Water Authority records show. Now each of San Diego’s 22 separate water districts will have to figure out how to shoulder that cost or pass it onto customers, depending on the health of their own budgets.
Related articles:
- San Diego Union Tribune: Wholesale water rates won’t rise as sharply as feared. Here’s why that could still cost ratepayers.
- Times of San Diego: Wholesale Water Rates to Rise, But Less Sharply, After Water Authority Board Vote