HILO — A new surcharge will hit water bills this summer as the Department of Water Supply strives to reduce its dependence on purchased power.
The energy rate surcharge, set at 5 cents per 1,000 gallons of water, goes into effect July 1, and is expected to generate $460,000 the first year. The money will be used to install power factor correction capacitors at 16 well sites and variable frequency drives at two well sites, the Water Board was informed Tuesday.
The board voted unanimously to approve the new charge, following a public hearing where no members of the public spoke. The board also passed on first reading its annual budget. At $53.1 million, it’s a 1.4 percent increase over this year’s budget.
A consultant last year had recommended the water department find a way to pay for energy improvements.
Manager-Chief Engineer Keith Okamoto said the department is trying to take a multi-pronged approach to achieve energy efficiency. The latest initiative is among the components the department has been looking at, in addition to energy saving performance contracting and other factors.
The water bill will now include the new energy charge, a water consumption charge, a set standby charge and a power cost charge that fluctuates with the price of electricity.
Board member Sue Lee Loy said the new energy rate will also help the department reach state renewable energy goals, in addition to saving the department money on electricity bills, which are passed to the customer.
“These are steps to these goals,” she said. “We’re not going to get there overnight. We’re not there yet, but we’ll get there.”
The power cost charge should decrease as the demand for power decreases with the new energy conservation projects. For the upcoming budget year, purchased power is expected to cost $22 million.
The department is also developing a wind farm facility at Lalamilo in South Kohala, about four miles mauka of the Puako intersection. The upgraded wind farm will power the eight wells in the area that pump about 5.1 million gallons a day.
Water users using up to 5,000 gallons a month will continue to pay 89 cents per thousand gallons until July 1, when it will increase to 91 cents and remain at that rate until increasing to 92 cents on July 1, 2019.
Those using more than 5,000 gallons monthly but less than 15,000 gallons will continue to pay the current rate of $1.80 per thousand gallons until July 1, 2017, when it will increase to $1.88 and then to $1.95 in 2018 and $2.01 in 2019.
And those using more than 15,000 gallons monthly but less than 40,000 gallons saw an increase from $3.03 per thousand gallons to $3.10 last year, which will be followed by $3.20 on July 1, $3.30 on July 1, 2017, $3.40 on July 1, 208 and $3.53 on July 1, 2019.
The typical homeowner connected to a 5/8-inch pipe experienced a 75 cent increase in the monthly standby charge, bringing it to $16.75 a month last year. That will increase to $17.40 on July 1, $18.30 in 2017, $19.20 in 2018 and $20.20 in 2019.