QUESTION: Are Burlington’s utility customers being assessed the city’s new, increased water and sewer rates? Shouldn’t their latest bills reflect the old rates since they cover a billing period that predates the increase on July 1?
ANSWER: A rate hike that reaches back into the past may be enough to blow the gaskets of many utility customers in Burlington. The city, however, appears to be savvy enough to avoid this sort of ex post facto increase in its billing procedures.
According to Morgan Lasater, the city’s community engagement director, the city will only enact the new rates when it begins to bill utility customers for their water and sewer consumption from the month of July.
“The new rates went into effect on July 1,” she explained in response to an inquiry from The Alamance News, “so [these rates] will be on bills towards the end of July, after all June consumption has been billed. June was/is billed at the old rates.”
Once the new rates take effect, customers should notice a 5 percent increase in both their water and sewer charges. According to the city, this hike will amount to an extra 56 cents a month in water fees and an additional 70 cents in sewer charges for a typical residential customer who uses 2,500 gallons a month.
