West Kelowna News

Customers receiving water from the Westbank Irrigation District will notice a change to their billing in 2010.

The water utility has been informing its customers for about 18 months that they will be switching from flat rate billing to metered billing beginning with the first quarterly billing cycle next year.

WID began installing water meters in the fall of 2006.

Utility General Manager, Brian Jamieson, says installation should be complete soon.

He says a rate study was completed by an independent consultant earlier this year. Rates were approved by the WID board in the summer.

The new rates will begin showing up in the April billing.

Consumers will pay a quarterly fixed charge plus a quarterly consumption based charge.

The fixed charge is $70 for a single residential unit is $70 per quarter for 5/8½ and 3/4½ water meters. In addition, a quarterly consumption based
charge will be payable and calculated as follows:

0 to 100 cubic metres of consumption/quarter - $0.2600/cubic metre

101 to 300 cubic metres of consumption/quarter - $0.5000/cubic metre

301 or more cubic metres of consumption/quarter + - $0.8000/cubic metre

Rates are different for larger residential and apartment complexes as well as commercial and industrial properties.

"The purpose of the change is of course to encourage conservation," says Jamieson.

"We think that over the first three years of metered billing we will see a reduction in water use of 15 per cent."

Jamieson says there has already been a steady decrease in the amount of water used by customers over the past seven years due to sprinkling restrictions.

He says highest usage day in 2002/2003 was 44,000 cubic metres of water. The max usage day in 2009 was 34,000 cubic metres, a reduction of almost 25 per cent.