ASK THE ADVOCATE: Sewer User Fee

Advocate staff photo by LIZ CONDO. Photo shot on 12/17/10. Trax No. 00024211A / New 24 inch sewer pipe sits ready to be installed below ground along N. 11th St. in Baton Rouge.

We are told that the January water bill is eliminated in computing the sewer user tax in East Baton Rouge Parish. If one’s meter is read in the first week of the month, is that the reading amount that is eliminated, which would be for consumption of the previous month, or is the eliminated amount the next reading?

Response from city-parish Service Fee Business Manager Greta Meche:

The Sewer User Fee is recalculated in July of each year and is based on the customer’s average water consumption during the months of October, November, and December of the prior year and February, March, and April of the current year. Approximately 93 percent of our customers are billed by Baton Rouge Water Co. There are 22 cycles billed each month. One cycle is billed each day and meters are read for one cycle each day (Monday through Friday). For cycles 1-4, which are read the first week of the month, the consumption is computed based on the reading dates of Feb. 1, Feb. 2, Feb. 3 and Feb. 6. That is considered January’s consumption and is eliminated from the sewer average.

For Baton Rouge Water customers, the Sewer User Fee is calculated by computing the average water consumption in 100 cubic feet (CCF).

The minimum charge for the first 400 cubic feet of average water consumption is $17.21. Also, there is a charge of $3.12 for each additional 100 cubic feet of average water consumption. Based on the average consumption of 11.5 CCF, the Sewer User Fee is $40.61 (based on 2012 rates).

Here’s the formula: SEWER USER FEE $40.61 = ((11.5 CCF-4.0 CCF) x $3.12) + $17.21

For new residential customers, the Sewer User Fee is based on the average water consumption of 11.5 CCF. Adjustments are made after three full months of water consumption is available. A credit is issued to customers with water consumption below the average and the monthly Sewer User Fee is adjusted.

For existing residential customers, adjustments to the Sewer User Fee can be made if the average water consumption for the most recent six months is lower than the consumption being billed. Customers may call the Service Fee Business Office to request a review of their account.

Comments

1) Comment by markedwardmarchiafava - 23/07/2012

Interesting tidbit here. If a citizen wanted to drill his own water well, treat his own sewerage, our esteemed "leaders" would not allow such independent behavior. Quite the contrary. If said citizen did so, the city would turn to Entergy, and ask / demand they turn off the citizen's electricity, whether or not the electric bill was being paid in a timely fashion. Land of the free? Doesn't appear so.

2) Comment by phil - 23/07/2012

And I believe the sewer fee can automatically go up 4 percent per year now forever and also can be increased anytime without any input of voters. How do you think they will pay off that $1.5 billion SSO sewer project?