CWA approves 2012-13 rates

The San Diego County Water Authority (CWA) board voted unanimously June 28 to approve the CWA’s rates and charges for calendar year 2013.

The CWA’s new rates will increase the cost of treated water by 5.9 percent and untreated water by 6.7 percent. The CWA’s member agencies have the option of absorbing that rate increase or passing on the additional cost to customers. The board action also included approving each agency’s share of pro-rata assessments for charges other than water purchases.

A significant component of the water rate increases is the fact that the CWA obtains 44 percent of its supply from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) and receives an additional 27 percent of its supply from Imperial County sources which are transported through MWD facilities. MWD approved an overall 5.0 percent increase for calendar year 2013 including a 14.4 percent increase in transportation charges.

In 1991, the CWA obtained 95 percent of its supply from MWD, and after the 1991 drought the CWA sought to diversify its supplies. Storage projects have allowed local surface water to increase from 5 percent of the CWA’s 1991 supply to 11 percent of the current supply, and groundwater projects now account for an additional 3 percent of the CWA’s total supply.

“This diversification has substantially increased our water reliability,” said CWA general manager Maureen Stapleton. “But it comes at a price.”

The CWA’s $3.5 billion capital improvement program has included the emergency storage project which includes 18 facilities and cost $1.5 billion, additional surface storage, water treatment, canal linings, pipelines, pump stations, power generation, and the aqueduct protection program which includes pipeline relining. “Water is no good unless you have the means to store it, treat it, and move it,” Stapleton said. “We’ve also incurred a substantial amount of debt in order to pay for those projects.”

The CWA utilized bond financing for its major capital projects, and the annual debt service payment amount will peak between 2013 and 2036. The CWA’s debt service for 2012 will be $114 million. That amount had been anticipated to increase to $138 million for 2013, although the CWA’s steps to mitigate its increased costs include debt refinancing which will reduce that projected debt service to $135 million. “It’s a significant bump-up for this year,” Stapleton said of the $21 million increase in debt servicing.

The CWA’s water rates are based on a melded rate involving delivery of water from MWD and water purchased from the Imperial Irrigation District under the Quantification Settlement Agreement. The CWA municipal and industrial rate per acre-foot of untreated water will increase from $638 to $714. The untreated water rate per acre-foot was $597 for 2011, $532 during 2010, $463 in 2009, $390 during 2008, and $365 for 2007. The surcharge per acre-foot for treated water was increased from $234 to $256; that surcharge was $215 during 2010 and 2011, $168 for 2009, and $164 in 2008.

The untreated special agricultural water rate (SAWR), which increased per acre-foot from $412 in 2009 to $484 for 2010 to $527 during 2011 to $560 in 2012, was increased to $593 for 2013. The SAWR treated water rate per acre-foot, which increased from $580 in 2009 to $699 during 2010 to $742 in 2011 to $794 for 2012, will be $849 during 2013.

The CWA’s transportation rate is a uniform rate set to recover capital, operating, and maintenance costs of the CWA’s aqueduct system and will increase from $85 to $93 per acre-foot. The rate per acre-foot was $64 in 2009, $67 during 2010, and $75 for 2011.

The infrastructure access charge (IAC) is used for CWA fixed expenditures which are incurred even when water use is reduced. The IAC per meter equivalent of $1.90 for 2009, $2.02 in 2010, $2.49 for 2011, and $2.60 during 2012 will become $2.65 effective Jan. 1.

The CWA’s customer service charge, which is also intended to recover costs which support the operations of the CWA and is allocated among member agencies based on a three-year rolling average of all deliveries, will remain at the 2012 amount of $26,400,000. That charge was $16,000,000 in 2009, $18,000,000 for 2010, and $23,200,000 during 2011. The Rainbow Municipal Water District’s 2013 portion of the charge will be $1,205,670, the Fallbrook Public Utility District (FPUD) will pay $726,020, and Camp Pendleton will fund $3,609 of the total charge.

The storage charge, which recovers costs related to emergency storage programs and is allocated based on a pro-rata share of non-agricultural deliveries, will increase from $54,200,000 to $60,200,000 after previous increases from $22,200,000 in 2008, $23,000,000 for 2009, $34,000,000 in 2010, and $44,300,000 during 2011. Rainbow’s share will be $1,726,612, FPUD will contribute $1,166,871, and Camp Pendleton is responsible for $9,113.

The CWA also has a standby availability charge of $10 per acre or $10 for a parcel under one acre; that remains unchanged.

MWD also has a readiness to serve charge, which is set on a fiscal year basis and which also involves credits for the standby charge and administrative costs. The CWA’s share is allocated to member agencies based on a ten-year rolling average of demands. Funding for the CWA’s $23,240,691 total assessment will include $390,809 from FPUD, $294,383 from Rainbow, and $5,052 from Camp Pendleton.

The MWD capacity charge is allocated to CWA member agencies proportionally based on a five-year rolling average of flows during peak periods. The total charge to the CWA will be $6,753,920. Rainbow’s 2013 payments will total $356,377, FPUD will pay $209,723, and Camp Pendleton’s cost will be $1,020.

To comment on this story online, visit http://www.thevillagenews.com.