COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Coldwater Board of Public Utilities customers will see their water and wastewater rates go up beginning May 1, 2015. The Coldwater City Council last night approved the increases that were recommended by the BPU Board of Directors last week.
BPU Director Paul Beckhusen explained to the Council what the rate hikes would mean on the monthly bills of an average customer in Coldwater. That would be a homeowner using 5,000 gallons of water a month and the impact would be a rate adjustment of 70-cents for the water on a monthly basis and the wastewater, $2.80, for a total of $3.50 or $42.00 a year.
Beckhusen said the rates are going up to offset declining revenues and to bring in the funds needed to meet the requirements for debt service coverage and for capital improvement projects. The hikes are 2.9% for water service and 9.5% for wastewater. It’s the second year of a 4-year rate adjustment period. The water rate hike would stay the same for years 3 and 4 while for waste water, it would decline from 9.5% to 2.5% for the third and fourth years.
