Moose Hollow resident Donovan Symonds said he suffered sticker shock opening his water bill this month.
“It just surprised me,” Symonds said. “What on Earth is going on? This is outrageous.”
Summit Water Distribution Company customers could see their water bills increase more than 37 percent in the last quarter of 2009. The board of directors for the company approved the increase at a meeting Sept. 24.
The increase will be effective on water use that began Oct. 1, and will appear on the Jan. 1 bill, according to a notice from Summit Water Distribution Company.
“I can’t believe a company can just suddenly do that,” Symonds said. “That’s a phenomenal increase in these economic times. It’s a horrendous increase for anybody, particularly at a time like this when we’re getting hit by all these various costs.”
But Summit Water hasn’t hiked its rates since 1996, said John Flitton, a spokesman for Summit Water Distribution Company.
“Over that time, the cost of operating the company has increased but we have not increased the rates,” Flitton said about the rising prices of electricity, gasoline and equipment. “The Consumer Price Index for all goods and services since 1996 has gone up 37.2 percent.”
Even with the rate hike, Flitton claimed customers at Summit will pay less for 1,000 gallons of water than those at Park City Municipal and Summit County’s Mountain Regional Water Special Service District.
“It’s $2.59 for Summit Water and over $6 for the other two,” Flitton said about the costs the three companies charge for 1,000 gallons. “In doing this increase, the board feels like the company will be able to continue for some time without an additional rate increase.”
A handful of ratepayers showed up last month when the board of directors approved the rate increase, Flitton said.
But some customers have called the company since then to complain about the hike, he said.
“Once the customers understand how the board reached its decision, their concerns are usually alleviated,” Flitton said.
But Symonds said he expects his $198 quarterly water bill to increase by about $73.
The hike in the water assessment is equal to the rate of inflation in the United States between 1996 and 2008, according to Flitton.
“The board closely monitors the operating costs of the company and tries to match the rates to those operating costs,” Flitton said. “The company assesses the shareholders only for the cost of operation and delivery of the water. The shareholdesr don’t pay for any of the new facilities.”