Average SAWS home customer could pay 16 percent more by 2017 - San Antonio Express-News

Average SAWS home customer could pay 16 percent more by 2017 - San Antonio Express-News


The San Antonio Water System is projecting annual rate increases at
least through 2020, with the average monthly residential bill climbing
from $51.75 to $60.02 in just the next two years.

Under SAWS’ proposed plan, rates would go up 7.5 percent in 2016 and
7.9 percent in 2017 to help pay for the 142-mile Vista Ridge pipeline,
approved by the City Council last year to bolster the city’s water
supply, and for other water and sewer projects.

Councilman Ron Nirenberg, who sits on a council committee set to hear
a briefing Wednesday on the independent water study for the city, said
he wants action delayed until a water policy study that has rankled the
utility’s staff is completed and released.

He called for an open discussion of the report, which gave a “high risk”
rating to Vista Ridge, to occur prior to a council vote on rates, set for Oct. 29.

“A project of this magnitude should withstand this kind of scrutiny,”

Nirenberg told the Express-News Editorial Board on Tuesday, a few hours
after the SAWS board heard a presentation on the rate proposal and the
utility’s response to a recent rash of billing errors that angered customers on the North Side.

“If the report is a joke, we should talk about why, and examine it,” Nirenberg said, referencing SAWS CEO Robert Puente’s comment last week on a 235-page report by Texas A&M University’s Institute of Renewable Natural Resources.

A July draft version of the report was released by the city last
month. Nirenberg, who initiated the study, said the institute felt
portions of it “need to be further substantiated.” He did not know when a
final version would be released and discussed. A city memo said the
anticipated release is expected in late October.

Doug Evanson, SAWS chief financial officer, said council action on the proposed rates
is needed to support sewer system upgrades and projects to increase the
local water supply, including a brackish groundwater desalination
plant, to go on line next year, and the $844 million Vista Ridge
pipeline from Burleson County.

The Vista Ridge consortium, led by the Spanish-based corporation
Abengoa, plans to use private bonds to fund two-thirds of the pipeline
and will need council “rate action” to secure financing, Evanson said.

“Otherwise, the Texas attorney general will not approve the transaction,” he said.

SAWS has projected it will ask the council for rate increases of 5.9
percent in 2018, 8.3 percent in 2019 and 13.2 percent in 2020. With
water bills for average SAWS residential customers expected to rise
under the proposal from $51.75 to $55.65 in 2016 and $60.02 in 2017, the
Vista Ridge project has come under renewed scrutiny.

The July draft of the Texas A&M study, while deeming it a
high-risk project because of its scope and financing, also calls it
“innovative” and recommends SAWS “develop a strategy to increase the
chances” it will produce water for San Antonio after 2050, when SAWS is
to assume ownership of the pipeline.

During an update on Vista Ridge, Gene Dawson, president of
Pape-Dawson Engineers, the project’s engineering and environmental
consultant, said the July report had some inaccuracies, but forecast
that “we could need up to 30 percent more water than SAWS is predicting.

“In that sense, you need another Vista Ridge project,” Dawson said.

He noted that of the 12 water projects the report analyzed, four
others with lower-volume production also were rated “high risk” —
Carrizo Aquifer water from Gonzales County, and supplies from Medina,
Canyon and Dunlap lakes.

“Yes, Vista Ridge is a difficult project. It’s going to take a lot of
effort. But what the report is saying, if we’re unsuccessful with Vista
Ridge, the risk is that we don’t have water security,” Dawson said.

To help deal with recent billing errors,
the SAWS board ratified a one-year contract with Olameter Corp. for up
to $394,896 to help read the roughly 500,000 meters in the SAWS system,
which serves 1.7 million people. The utility estimates a high number of
meters that were not read, peaking at more than 80,000 in June,
resulting in estimated bills that later left customers overbilled in the
summer.

SAWS has met with about 700 customers to resolve billing issues at
four “rapid response” sessions and is committed to reducing the
estimated bills to no more than 2 percent of all accounts, Evanson said.
He mentioned a review of software used to flag high bills; efforts to
incorporate new technology; a possible billing staff increase; and
regular reports to trustees as ways to ensure fair bills.

Matthew Pribble, a homeowner association leader whose North Side
neighborhood was affected, said the billing mix-up has shaken the faith
some customers have in their municipal utility.

“I hear about this perfect storm, but I feel like SAWS waited until
they were in the middle of the eye of the storm before they actually
came out in public and said we had an issue,” Pribble said.

“We did make a mistake,” SAWS Chairman Berto Guerra replied. “At SAWS, we’re committed to fixing it.”

shuddleston@express-news.net

Twitter: @shuddlestonSA