Best Practice Action Detail

Crystal, as a member of the Joint Water Commission, purchases water from Minneapolis. In 2018 the city did a utility rate study and changed the basis for billing for water and sanitary sewer usage to a consumption basis, in part, to encourage wise use of water.

Water utility fees for sanitary sewer service is comprised of consumption-based fees--where the amount of water used, may alter the cost of monthly fees. This is consistent with demand-side pricing for water utility, which has been shown to work as an incentive to residential water conservation. Additionally, water utility in Edina allows water users to view their water use history, and see how usage compares to other similar entities.

As a component of our Water Preservation Program - H2OPP, we have increased our top tier water rate by 30% and our wastewater rate is tied to that same formula. Additionally, we just completed a pilot project in which we installed meters in the waste water line at one of our manufactured home parks and will be sending written correspondence to them advising them of our findings (significant difference between municipal water sold and amount going into wastewater (increase) system. They will be required to formulate a plan to address the difference (suspect 90% infiltration) or we will reinstall the meters and begin imposing new fee based on meter calculations. We have a total of three manufactured home parks and 6/7 large multi-family complexes and we will continue implementing the same program with all of them in 2020 and until done.

Thus, combination of the increased Tier rate and potential rate increase for manufactured parks and others are designed to reduce use.

We partner with Rich Prairie Sewer and Water for our City Sewer and Water. As of April 1st, they implemented a new rate structure that charges residents actual water and sewer usage instead of a blanket usage. This will hopefully reduce the amount of water that consumers use as they become more aware of their usage and costs.

The City has adopted a conservation-based water rate structure. Users are charged more per 1,000 gallons of water supplied if meeting higher thresholds of use. All irrigation meters are charged the highest rate.
Sewer rates are determined by water use; users are charged per 1,000 gallons of drinking water.

The City of Winthrop has adopted a conservation rate schedule for water. The more water that is used the higher rate the customer will pay.

The City’s tiered water rate structure is in place to help encourage efficient water use. The water and wastewater rates are in City Code and can be found here:
http://library.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/Minnesota/bloomington_mn/bloomingtonminnesotacodeofordinances?f=templates$fn=default.htm$3.0$vid=amlegal:bloomington_mn

Coon Rapids charges for water consumption through a tiered system to encourages conserving water and rewards those that use less. All businesses are charged a base fee for sewer rates and then charged a specific amount per 1000 gallons of consumption. This system applies to all commercial, industrial, institutional and restaurant sites in the City. In 2014, the system was expanded to residential sites in the city that increase water rates as usage amounts increase. This also applies to sprinkling meters at commercial/industrial sites. City staff continues to use this as a tool to reward water conservation efforts city-wide.

We have an increased rate for water usage over 20 units

Minimum Water Usage Charge Eliminated – In collaboration with the Conservation Commission, the City of Eden Prairie recently adopted a resolution to eliminate the four unit minimum water usage charge for our utility customers. The four unit minimum usage charge was established a number of years ago, but has recently become a disincentive to those customers wishing to conserve as much water as possible. Most city customers never drop below four units during a billing cycle (four units is equivalent to 4,000 gallons). However, there is a small and growing portion of our customer base who are diligently managing their water use and have found ways to drop below this mark. The four unit minimum charge will be removed starting in January 2013. Those customers using less than four units during their billing cycle could see a reduction of $1.90 to $7.60 on their next water bill.

The City’s current water conservation measures is through ordinances that restrict lawn watering to odd-even cycle from May through September.  The upcoming Utility Rate Study will provide an opportunity to explore other areas of potential advancement on this topic.

Move from a flat rate to a usage based water and sewer billing

In 2010 the city implemented a multi-tiered water rate structure mandated by the state of Minnesota to encourage water conservation.

A 3-tiered water conservation rate was adopted and implemented January 1, 2010. Other conservation measures such as sprinkling/irrigation restrictions are part of city code.

Completed. The City has an increasing block structure of rates to incentivize reduced water usage.

The city created a new water conservation-based rate structure in 2013.

City has set up a tier system for water conservation. Tier 1 is low consumption consumer rate and Tier 3 is high consumption consumer rate. Tiers are separated by over 25-cents/tier level.

The City also has a tiered conservation rate structure for water rates. Based on the amount of water used, residents pay as low as 88 cents per thousand gallons water, and as much as $4.88 per thousand gallons of water. The tiered system may be viewed at: http://ci.woodbury.mn.us/environment-main/water-restrictions-conservation/water-a-sewer-rates

For residents and businesses that sign up for e-bill or an electronic account, they can see their water use compared to other users on their street.