Bad weather leads city to defer portion of February utility bills

By Matthew Nash • January 31, 2024 1:30 am
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash City of Sequim residents will see a slight change in their water utility bills in February as city staff couldn’t read utility meters due to snow and ice, so water consumption fees will be deferred to March. City staff estimate most residents pay less than $5 for water consumption rates this time of year.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash City of Sequim residents will see a slight change in their water utility bills in February as city staff couldn’t read utility meters due to snow and ice, so water consumption fees will be deferred to March. City staff estimate most residents pay less than $5 for water consumption rates this time of year.

Long-melted snow continues to impact the City of Sequim’s residents as city staff announced last week they’ll be deferring consumption charges on February’s utilities bills to March because of inclement weather’s impact on reading meters.

According to a city press release, city public works department staffers were unable to read utility meters for residences and commercial buildings with significant snow and ice buildup in mid-January, so February’s bills will only include base water utility charges and not consumption charges.

March’s utility bills will include both January and February’s consumption charges, along with the base charge.

This affects about 3,600 accounts, city staff reported.

They said it’s been a few of years since they’ve been unable to read meters, and it’s only happened about three times in two decades.

Sue Hagener, the City of Sequim’s administrative services director, said via email that the average residential customer pays about $6.50 in consumption charges this time of year with a few accounts bringing the average up. Most residences pay less than $5 in consumption charges, she said.

An average for business accounts was unavailable as they vary wildly based upon their type of business operation, Hagener said.

According to the city’s webpage, single-family residents pay a water utility base rate of $28.97 per month, and multi-family residences pay $27.51.

Hotel/motel RV sites pay $21.71 per month for the water base utility rate, and commercial, irrigation and public residences with a ¾-inch line pay $43.47 per month, which increases depending on the size of the pipe, with the maximum base charge at $434.40 for a 3-inch line or bigger.

For sewer utilities, single-family and multi-family residences only pay a base charge, and not a usage fee. Commercial and hotel/motel and RV sites (per unit) pay a base charge and a fee based on usage amounts.

Hagener estimates this will mean anywhere from $25,000-$50,000 will be deferred in water utility revenues for the city from February to March.

However, she said the most revenue the city collects is from base rates.

“The philosophy around this is to ensure stability of revenues throughout the year, so consumption charges make up a small portion of our revenues,” Hagener said.

If the increased consumption charges in the March billing cause undue hardship, city staff said they can make arrangements as needed by calling the finance office at 360-683-4139.