Comparison of 2011 & 2012 EID costs
for Water and Sewer bills in El Dorado Hills

All graphs on this page depict water and sewer costs for Single Family Residential service. Contents were minimally updated on 2/18/2012, a further update will finish revision to reflect rate comparisons for three different rate schedules:
The new 2012 rates primarily shift from 70/30 to 50/50 coverage of costs by the the two main components of water rates. This means that current 2012 rates recover 70% of actual costs from consumption charges, 30% from the fixed base charge assessed in each 2-month billing period. The proposed new rates shift to recoving 50% of costs from consumption charges, 50% from the fixed base charge. Several other changes in the rate structure for particilucar rate classes other than Single Family Residential respond to findings of the Cost Of Services study completed last year.

Proposed single Family Residential rates are approximately cost-neutral relative to the current 2012 rates. Individual bills can vary, depending on water consumption and especially on sewer flow, which is set annually the measured minimum winter water consumption for each customer. Billing is especially sensitive to sewer flow.

Service costs for water and sewer:
Sample case for one residence

This web author's own 2011 bills provide the basis for the sewer charges used in the two graphs immediately below below. If the currently expected 2012 rate schedule is applied to my actual 2011 billed consumption, my average billing would be for 2,503 cubic feet of water consumption and 1,159 cubic feet of sewer (wastewater) flow. Reductions in sewer billing offset increases in water cost in the low range of consumption to make the total billing and the proposed 2012 rates nearly cost-neutral relative to the current 2012 rates.

Change in cost between the current 2012 rates and the proposed new 2012 rates would be:

Cost change
per bill
(average)		 Cost change
per month
(average)		 Percent change
Water costs would change (increase) by.... +$13.64 +$6.82 +21.2%
Sewer costs would change (decrease) by ... -$10.45 -$5.23 -16.2%
Total billing would change (increase) by ... +$3.19 +$1.60 +1.8%

My minimum winter water consumption, 1,159 cubic feet per 2-month billing period, is the basis for computing sewer consumption charges. More precisely this represents flow into the sewer, assumed to be equal to water consumption at a time when irrigation normally is shut off. This determines the sewer cost applied in each billing period for 1 year at a time. In my case the 2012 rate schedule produces a 4.4% decrease in sewer costs.

Use Linked button to compare costs under the old 2011 rates, current 2012 rates, and proposed new 2012 rates.
Plug in numbers from your own bills, or explore other combinations of water and sewer usage.

Graphics below are for comparing the 2011 rates with the current 2012 rates. These graphs will be updated to reflect the proposed 2012 rate structure.


Graphic comparisons:  Water and Sewer costs,
for 2011 and 2012 Rate Schedules


Water costs comparison, 2011 & 2012 rate schedules

Sewer costs comparison, 2011 & 2012 rate schedules


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