PORT ANGELES — Utility costs would increase $4.65 monthly for Port Angeles residential customers in 2011 if the City Council adopts a staff proposal.
The proposed increase in the electrical base charge and a wastewater fee were presented to the Port Angeles Utility Advisory Committee on Tuesday.
The electrical base charge would be raised to $13 per month (a $2 increase), and the wastewater fee for the city’s combined sewer overflow — or CSO — project to $14.95 per month (a $2.65 increase).
Both are flat fees. No reference was made to business costs.
The electrical base charge hasn’t changed since 1993, Larry Dunbar, city deputy power systems director, told the advisory committee.
Glenn Cutler, city public works and utilities director, said the charge must be increased to cover the utility’s infrastructure costs.
Residential utility customers with the proposed increases will pay an average of $2,604 a year on utilities in 2011, according to the city. That would be up from $2,548 this year.
The City Council is expected to consider approving the charges for 2011 at its Oct. 19 meeting.
The CSO fee started in 2005. The city increases it every year by $2 plus the rate of inflation.
It will continue increasing at that rate until 2015, when it will reach $26.40 per month. The rate will expire after another 20 years.
The city uses the fee to repay loans from the state on its CSO project, which will nearly eliminate all of its sewage overflows.
The state Department of Ecology is requiring the city to average no more than one overflow a year at each of its four outfalls by 2016.
The project is estimated to cost about $40 million and the city is expecting to use state loans to cover the entire expense.
The plan is to use a large tank on Rayonier Inc.’s former mill site to temporarily store untreated sewage and storm water that would otherwise overflow into Port Angeles Harbor during heavy rainfall.
Storm water and sewage are combined in some of the city’s older sewers, which are not large enough to handle both.
The effluent would be drained from the 5-million-gallon tank to the city’s waste water treatment plant, which is next to the property.
The city is negotiating with Rayonier for the purchase of the tank and approximately 12 acres of land needed for the CSO infrastructure and future expansion of the treatment plant.
The city plans to buy both for $997,000.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
