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Medford Water Commission

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Rates will change in January

At its Oct. 21 board meeting, the Board of Water Commissioners unanimously approved a rate adjustment that will go into effect Jan. 1, 2016.
 
The decision to adjust rates follows a rate study conducted by an independent consultant, HDR Inc. of Seattle, tasked with assuring that the share of costs paid by different customer groups is equitable. As a result, some customers will see larger increases than others, and customers within water districts will even see a one-time decrease in their rates. However, most customers will see rates increase about 13 percent.
 
While this rate increase is larger than usual on a percentage basis, the amount of change isn’t comparatively large when calculated in dollars and cents. The typical monthly bill for single-family residences within Medford will go up by about $1.40 during winter months. During a hot summer month, the typical Medford residence will see its charges increase by about $3.60.
 
For the cities that Medford Water Commission (MWC) sells water to on a wholesale basis – Ashland, Central Point, Eagle Point, Jacksonville, Phoenix and Talent – bulk water rates will increase about 14 percent. However, customers within these cities should note that the Water Commission’s charges represent less than 1/4 of their total bill. While each of these cities establishes its own water rates, customers could expect to see an increase of up to 3.5 percent if MWC’s charges are passed on to customers.
 
A combination of factors have contributed to this year’s larger than usual increases, the primary one being that over the last four years, rate evaluations were not conducted each year as we normally do. While some water providers make occasional large rate changes that incorporate anticipated costs for multiple years, our preference has been to make smaller annual adjustments that increase only enough to meet the costs for the upcoming year. We were unable to do so during the last few years due to a complicated computer software changeout.
 
This in turn delayed the rate analysis being conducted by the consultant. Last winter it was recognized that lack of any rate change for yet another year could result in the need for a very large increase in 2016. A modest across-the-board increase was therefore implemented in March of 2015. This helped, but couldn’t alone resolve shortfalls. 
 
Our charges both before and after the upcoming rate increase are extremely low compared with water providers across the state and nation. For example, based on a survey of Oregon water suppliers that we conducted in April of 2015, the average charge for typical winter usage for a residence was approximately $26 per month, while our charge for a Medford customer was about $11. In a hot summer month, an average bill in Medford has been approximately $28, whereas the average charge a comparable amount of water usage elsewhere in Oregon was $86.



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