The Board of Directors approved a five-year schedule of changes to SCV Water’s rate structure on Tuesday, June 15. The new rate structure standardizes charges for all divisions, and also addresses the need for additional water treatment facilities.
“The unification of rates represents the final step in bringing all our divisions together under the SCV Water umbrella since the merger in January 2018,” Board President Gary Martin said. “I look forward to moving ahead with the important work our agency does to ensure sustainable water supplies for the future.”
The changes were based on recommendations from a cost-of-service study that determined the revenue needed to continue current service levels and fund critical capital projects.
The Board passed the new water rates and service charges following a public hearing conducted virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. The rates take effect on July 1, 2021 and will be adjusted each July 1st through 2025.
“It is imperative that we consider the future needs of the agency and our customers so that we can continue providing safe, reliable water service,” General Manager Matt Stone said. “The new rates will help us respond to water quality needs and put customers in all divisions on the same footing.”
A primary driver of the rate change was the need to construct treatment facilities to meet state regulations for PFAS substances in groundwater.
PFAS is a collective term for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, manmade chemicals in common household products that have made their way into the groundwater from consumer products and other industrial uses.
The agency also needed to standardize rates for all its divisions. When SCV Water began operating as a new agency in 2018, it combined three separate agencies that now make up its divisions, Valencia, Santa Clarita and Newhall, and each division had its own rates.
Valencia and Santa Clarita had debt incurred prior to the creation of SCV Water (legacy debt). Newhall had the highest rates prior to joining SCV Water, in part as a planned measure to pay down its debt levels faster, which was accomplished in June 2020.
As part of the rate restructuring, the legacy debt will be shown as a separate line item and continues to be paid only by customers in that division.
Additionally, the new water rates and services charges reflects the current combined cost of service and is allocated equitably across all customers.
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2 Comments
What about charging Nestle’s new partner for all the thousands of gallons of water taken despite a permit and fee. That stolen resource from the people and communities makes those companies millions of dollars in profits for Arrowhead bottled water! Make those conglomerates pay, not the little people!
Here’s the other side according to the SCV Signal at
https://signalscv.com/2021/06/water-rates-to-increase-for-valencia-santa-clarita-divisions/
Lynne Plambeck was one of four members of the board of directors who voted against the new water rates Tuesday.
“When they did the merger, there was supposed to be a lot of efficiency savings and I’m not convinced that all that is happening to the extent that we would need to raise rates,” she told The Signal. “I just wish that we would look for more efficiencies before we start to raise rates.”
Plambeck said the rate increase would be the most difficult for Valencia Division ratepayers, which had access to “lifeline rates” for low-income households before merging into the SCV Water Agency.
“I do worry about the folks in Valencia Water Co. that had lifeline rates before they disappeared, and now their water rates are going to be even higher,” Plambeck said.
The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic also make this moment “bad timing” for rate increases, she said, noting that the agency could have waited another year before changing rates.