Columbus water customers will pay higher bills due to inflation if this proposal passes
Columbus Water Works customers may see a rate increase next year because of inflation and the company’s efforts to comply with regulations.
Jeremy Cummings, who succeeded Steve Davis as president of CWW this month, presented the Water and Sewer Rate Study to the city council on Oct. 22 recommending a 7.95% rate increase for 2025.
This means a monthly increase of $4 to $5.50 is expected for most customers.
The proposed rate is in the lower third of rates in comparison with peer utility companies statewide, Executive Vice President Vic Burchfield told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.
A 3,750-gallon residential bill would cost a customer $50.47, according to Cummings’ presentation to the city council.
This is slightly more than Macon at $49.22 and less than Phenix City and Augusta at $52.25 and $64.57, respectively. CWW’s customers are paying about $10 to $20 less than regional and national averages, Cummings said during the presentation.
“(This comparison) indicates that we offer a good value,” Burchfield said.
The proposed rate increase will be presented to the Board of Water Commissioners at their meeting next month, and if approved, go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
Along with the rate increase, CWW also proposed increasing the low-income credit program from $8.50 to $10.50. The company also offers payment plans and other flexible billing arrangements for customers.
No councilors commented on the rate increase during the Oct. 22 meeting.
Mayor Skip Henderson urged councilors to tour the company’s facilities if they haven’t done so in recent years.
“I recommend that you revisit them just to see how large of an investment it takes to be able to provide some of the cleanest drinking water that you’ll find,” he said.
What’s driving rate increases
Some of the main rate drivers for CWW include:
Delivering safe water to customers and returning clean water to the Chattahoochee River
Infrastructure maintenance and improving an aging system
Regulatory compliance
Inflation.
The cost of operating the systems significantly increased over the past five years because of inflation, said CWW chief financial officer Carl Robertson during the council meeting.
Cost increases affected chemicals, electricity, construction, copper pipes, vehicles and other supplies.
Chlorine cost $345 per metric ton in 2019, according to Robertson’s presentation. In 2024, chlorine was $760 per metric ton.
Copper pipes went from $2.09 per foot to $4.76 per foot.
“We have heard that other water utilities have experienced similar increases through our state water utility association events,” Burchfield told the Ledger-Enquirer.
In addition to the higher operating costs, CWW has aging infrastructure that they have to prepare for, Robertson said.
The company built in a $100 million placeholder in their budget for new water quality regulations coming from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.
They’re budgeting $110 million for a master plan infrastructure improvement. A master plan is done every five years, Robertson said, and this one has increased by $50 million.
“Five years ago, we took out the $60 million for the master plan,” he said. “After that, we had to take out an additional $28 million to cover cost overruns. This $110 million will allow us to do the same amount of infrastructure improvement within Muscogee County that we did on the last master plan.”
Operation and maintenance accounts for 58% percent of CWW’s costs, Robertson said, and debt accounts for 24%. City overhead and department capital, like replacing vehicles, make up the rest of the company’s expenditures.
By 2029, CWW expects to spend $320 million in capital projects including $100 million for the EPD regulations and the additional $50 million for system reinvestment.
In addition to those costs, the $320 million includes costs for expected federal regulations on toxic chemicals called PFAS and long-term planning for the South Columbus Wastewater Regulatory facility.
PFAS are officially named per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They received the moniker “forever chemicals” because they persist in the environment and exposure can increase health risks like cancer or heart disease as they accumulate in the body.
“CWW has kicked off the testing phase of a pilot project that is evaluating treatment technologies for the removal of PFAS chemicals,” Burchfield said. “We are still on track with that schedule.”
By 2029, CWW will have a 74% increase in annual debt payments to maintain infrastructure and stay in compliance with regulations, Robertson said.
