Image by Flickr user stop that pigeon!
It seems counter intuitive, even ironic that the cost of a water bill would rise the more a household conserved, but this is exactly the case for customers of Mount Pleasant Waterworks who have been issued a 9 percent increase to their monthly bills.
Here’s what is going on: the lower demand from existing customers combined with the housing meltdown has hit water utilities hard where it hurts – in the wallet.
A statement from Mount Pleasant Waterworks offered some further explanation:
"Without the rate increase, we would be in violation of a debt coverage requirement in our bond ordinances. Such a violation could reduce our credit rating and lead to even larger rate increases in the future."
and
"…reduced water consumption because of the economic conditions and wet weather has caused our revenues to be off even more than we projected six months ago."
And it isn’t just Mount Pleasant Waterworks that have jacked up the prices, Charleston Water System's rates are up an average of 5 percent as well.
