The Kaua’i Water Department wants to give a break to its customers. The department has proposed deferring a second rate increase for its Water Plan 2020, a $150 million project to upgrade the water system to ensure reliable service to
The Kaua’i Water Department wants to give a break to its customers.
The department has proposed deferring a second rate increase for its Water Plan 2020, a $150 million project to upgrade the water system to ensure reliable service to island customers.
The department is proposing the deferral because there aren’t enough engineers to move forward on the projects in the first phase of the water plan, according to Kymm Solchaga, the department’s public information officer.
Water consumers began paying $2.10 for the first 20,000 gallons of water used after the first rate increase went into effect July 2001.
Residential customers, for instance, who use between 20,000 to 40,000 gallons pay an extra $2.40 per thousand gallons. Over 40,000 gallons, they would pay $3.40 per thousand gallons.
If the proposed increases go through, residential customers would pay $2.76 for the first 20,000 gallons, an extra $3.20 per thousand gallons between the 20,000 and 40,000 gallon margin and $4.50 per thousand gallons over 40,000 gallons.
The current tiered rate system makes customers accountable for water use; the more they use, the more they pay. The tiered rates are higher for large water users like hotel operators, hospitals and other businesses.
Prior to the new rates, customers paid a flat rate of $1.78 per thousand gallons of water.
The proposed second rate increase also calls for increasing the monthly service charge from $9 to $12 for homes. The service charges varies on the size of the meter size.
The Water Board has scheduled a public hearing on the proposed rate deferral at the Water Department’s headquarters in Lihu’e at 10 a.m. on April 16.
The revenues from the rate increases are needed to help the department implement the water plan.
Without the increased revenues, the plan could stall, creating situations where development might be slowed due to lack of water or new water sources.
The department said the board’s approval of the deferral will delay the second rate increase by one year, with new rates to become effective July 1, 2004.
Delaying the second rate increase is possible at this time because the department’s expenses and spending for capital improvements have not been as high as was originally projected when the rates were adopted, water department officials said.
“It was a very aggressive plan to begin with,” Solchaga said. “We went forward with it and we have been going forward with various, different projects.”
But the department has not been able to move ahead as quickly as it would like with some projects because it has not been able to hire qualified engineers, Solchaga said.
The water department currently employs about a dozen engineers to tackle ongoing projects and Water Plan 2020 projects.
To move forward with projects in the first phase, the department is trying to streamline its efficiency and will be working with consultants or engineers in the private industry, Solchaga said.
In spite of a small slowdown of the work thus far, the “plan has been good,” Solchaga said.
Water Department officials said that department revenues, water sales and energy costs have been “very close to those projected in the financial plan.”
Officials also said the water department was able to obtain low interest loans from the state for several projects.
Work on the water plan started in 1999 after the department determined good portions of the water system had degraded by age.
The top-priority projects in the plan were to be tackled in the first phase. They include 127 miles of new pipes, digging new wells and building new storage tanks.
The first phase of the three-phase plan calls for projects to be developed between 2002 and 2006 at a projected cost of $51 million.
The remaining projects are to be developed in two subsequent phases at a cost of about $100 million.
Department officials estimate the new work will top off at about $200 million, based on the value of the dollar in future years.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
