[casa rakkaleff] hidden cost of home ownership: water flat fees
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leff
Sep 15, 2009, 4:52:45 PM9/15/09
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We just got our second water bill. It's staggering, again. So I did the three seconds of research I should have done last time and figured out that it's not just us that has this problem. It's everybody.
According to The C of B, the flat fee's are expected to far outweigh the the cost of the water they're pumping to and from your house. In fact, if you total it all up, it costs $100.58 before you use a single drop of water. Even at $159, it's still more than half flat fees.
This is an unintuitive billing set up, to say the least. I'm not complaining about the cost of water, far from it. In fact I think the water is way too cheap. I'd rather pay much more per gallon, and less on the flat fees. This would provide a much bigger incentive to conserve water, because doing so would have a noticeable financial impact.
The bill has a big huge water conservation notice, the website encourages rain barrel use. But without a measurable financial impact, it's all just lip service. If I get rain barrels, low flow everything, and all native plants in my yard, and my water bill goes down ten bucks every two months, it'll still take me years to see a return. Years! We're still going to do it at the Casa, but we're the outliers.
(btw, we're down by about 1000 gallons a month, and this billing cycle still had some irrigation on it)
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Posted By leff to casa rakkaleff at 9/15/2009 01:31:00 PM
According to The C of B, the flat fee's are expected to far outweigh the the cost of the water they're pumping to and from your house. In fact, if you total it all up, it costs $100.58 before you use a single drop of water. Even at $159, it's still more than half flat fees.
This is an unintuitive billing set up, to say the least. I'm not complaining about the cost of water, far from it. In fact I think the water is way too cheap. I'd rather pay much more per gallon, and less on the flat fees. This would provide a much bigger incentive to conserve water, because doing so would have a noticeable financial impact.
The bill has a big huge water conservation notice, the website encourages rain barrel use. But without a measurable financial impact, it's all just lip service. If I get rain barrels, low flow everything, and all native plants in my yard, and my water bill goes down ten bucks every two months, it'll still take me years to see a return. Years! We're still going to do it at the Casa, but we're the outliers.
(btw, we're down by about 1000 gallons a month, and this billing cycle still had some irrigation on it)
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Posted By leff to casa rakkaleff at 9/15/2009 01:31:00 PM
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