According to a staff report at a monthly meeting of the North Coast County Water District (NCCWD) Board on Oct. 20, water rates are projected to increase by 18 to 34 percent next year, an 8 to 24 percentage point hike from a previous estimate. 

Prior to this update, which came from the San Francisco Public Utility Commission (SFPUC) (the agency that sells water to wholesalers throughout the Bay Area including NCCWD), the projected rate increase from fiscal year 2010-11 2011-12 was 10 percent, or from the current rate of $1.90 per one hundred cubic feet (ccm) to $2.09 per ccm. Now, SFPUC estimates that 2011-12 rates may be set at $2.55 per ccm if water sales do not pick up or $2.25 if they do. 

The new projected increase is a result of slow sales for SFPUC, which were down by 5 percent in the first two months of fiscal year 2010-11 compared with 2009-10. This, SFPUC believes, is because of a temperate summer and greater-than-average rainfall. If water sales do not rebound, previously projected rate increases will be insufficient to meet construction costs of the Water System Improvement Program (WISP), a region-wide effort by SFPUC to improve its infrastructure and make it earthquake proof. 

Water rate increases are implemented on July 1 every year, so these newest projections are only tentative and will change with future water sales. Last July, SFPUC increased its rates by 15.1 percent.

Kevin O'Connell, general manager at NCCWD, explained that SFPUC rate hikes do not necessarily mean an equivalent hike in a customer's bill.

Proposition 218, passed by California voters in 1996, mandates that agencies such as NCCWD undergo a review process both of internal finances and public response via mail-outs before raising utility rates. His agency, O'Connell said, follows Prop. 218 "to the letter."