Have You Read Your Water Bill Lately?

With utility bills increasing seemingly every month, we've become so numbed to the situation that we just pay the bill and never bother to see what we're really paying for.

Now it's bad enough to cough up a substantial chunk of money when you've used as much as you want. But when the utilities keep encouraging you to reduce the amount of water, gas or electricity that you're using while they raise the rates and your bill keeps gettng ever larger, you have to wonder what they're charging you for.

Take my water bill, for example. And frankly, I wish someone would. Let's see what I'm really paying for the water. Keep in mind that, while my bill is not all that large, it's the ratio that's important.

For the month of March, 2007, my water bill ran $43.86. This was strictly inside use. No lawn watering, partly due to substantial rain.

At any rate, the Sanitation service charge was $22.75 plus $1.88 in tax for a total of $24.63 a month for once a week garbage pick up. Then we have $.50 for an Environmental Protection Fee and $1.45 for a Storm Water Utility Service Charge. So far we're up to $26.58 and I still haven't paid for any water.

Up next is a $4.50 Wastewater Service Charge, followed by $4.27 for the amount of water that got flushed down the sewer line. This raises the total to $35.35.

Finally we get to the water that I actually used, the amount that came into the house thu the water meter. I consumed 1.7 CCF (Thousand Cubic Feet). Or if you care to look at it another way, 1700 Cubic Feet of water. Either way, folks, that ain't much. For that miniscule amount, I paid yet another service fee, this one for Water, of $5.50, to bring the bill up to $40.85.

At long, long last, we finally get to the actual cost of the water. It turns out to be ...drum roll please... $3.01!

Are we seeing a pattern here? Out of a $43.86 monthly bill for water...and this is a public utility operated by the City...$35.67 is consumed by service charges.

If that isn't bad enough, the Sanitation charge has increased substantially while the garbage collection schedule has dropped from twice weekly to once weekly. Another example of paying more for less.

What's in your bill?