Eden Prairie might change water rates, use tiered charges

Eden Prairie may change water rates to encourage conservation and even up charges between residential and commercial users before summer lawn-sprinkling season begins.

A two-tiered charge for all users will be presented to the City Council on March 4 by Public Works Director Gene Dietz.

Lawn sprinkling boosts water demand from about 6 million gallons a day in the winter to a peak of 22 million gallons a day in the summer, Dietz said.

To control summer use, the city enforces strict sprinkling restrictions 24 hours a day, even sending officers out in the middle of the night to catch violators.

The new rates would reinforce conservation efforts but are unlikely to dramatically change habits, Dietz said.

"I am not sure we could ever charge enough to have a solid impact on water use," Dietz said.

"If you have an investment in your yard, most people are going to want to protect that investment."

The proposal now is to apply the $1.65 per thousand gallon charge to the first 36,000 gallons used per quarter (or 150 percent of their winter use, whichever is greater) and increase the charge to $2.65 per thousand gallons for any water used beyond that.

The city's top water users -- 3 to 5 percent of all accounts -- would feel the pinch of this change because they now benefit from a $100 cap on extra water use. Currently, the most anyone pays for water use over 36,000 gallons is $100.

Under the proposed changes, both homes and businesses would pay the full rate for all water used.

Owners of new lawns would no longer be eligible for a rate break. In the past, newly sodded or seeded lawns could be watered at the base rate, regardless of how much was used, Dietz said.

Under the proposed change, new lawns could be watered every day if necessary, but owners would have to pay full price under the two-tiered rate.

Dietz also will propose that the city move from quarterly to monthly billings for commercial accounts this summer and for residents in 2009.

Getting a bill every month will let customers know how much water they are using in time to reduce it the next month, Dietz said.

Last fall, Eden Prairie finished a five-year, citywide installation of water meters that can be read remotely by radio transmission. This allows a meter reader to collect billing information from residences while driving down the street, Dietz said.