Jan was looking out the front window two days ago and exclaimed "Oh No! It's the water meter reader" Obviously we are going to get a bill. The family Chief Financial Controller (CFO) handles these matters and I usually don't concern myself. However when the account arrived by email I had a look.
What I found interesting was the account comprised three parts
- Water Usage
- Service Charge
- Sewage
The water company presents the invoice in a manner which makes it difficult at a glance to identify the various costs. I extrapolated the information in an Excel spreadsheet to break the costs down
Water $47.50
Service Charge $28.05
Sewage $116.71 (Note: got to cut down on grape consumption)
The water charge is based on the amount of water the household uses. However the sewage is based on the council rates for the property. Therefore sewage isn't priced on use but rather the value of your property. One assumes the logic is the more money you can afford for a home the more you can afford to pay for your sewage. Or perhaps ,the more grapes you can afford to buy
I accept it would be difficult (but not impossible) to place a meter on property sewage pipes. However it should be possible to calculate a cost of sewage disposal based on water consumption. The more people in the house; the more water used and the more the toilet gets flushed. User Pays principle.
As it stands we could go away on holiday for a month using no water and still receive a $144.82 bill.
The reality is the more people living in the house… The cheaper per head the water and sewage account will be.
What is the Service Charge? On the Water Corporation website it states "Service charges help cover the cost of providing clean and safe drinking water in Western Australia, taking away wastewater and disposing of it in a socially and environmentally friendly way, and removing stormwater through our drainage services." But we have already paid for that with our water and sewage charges! However the clever bureaucrats have worked out they can both double dip and charge for an unused service when the property has been left vacant.
2 comments :
Hi Tom
Here in Yorkshire (and I presume the rest of the UK) we receive a water bill based on four things: the water meter reading, a sewage removal charge (based on 95% of the water meter reading), surface water drainage, and a standing charge.
If your property's surface water (including from the roof) doesn't drain via the sewage system you can get a rebate.
The standing charge includes dealing with surface water that falls on the public roads, footpaths etc.
I don't know whether C&RT's (and marinas) sewage charge is based on 95% of the water consumption, I would hope that they have managed to negotiate a special rate due to the fact that most of the water that comes out of the taps ends up in the cut.
Mick
Hi Mick,
From my perspective your Yorkshire system is more equitable when it comes to the sewage charge. Users pay! Our system has one part of the community subsidising the other.
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