Benavente: Water bill will depend on usage

With the adoption of new water rates, customers’ payments may go up or down depending on their usage, Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente said.

Benavente, chairman of the CNMI Water Task Force, said the emergency water rates were imposed to allow the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to charge non-24 hour users based on their consumption.

“While it [CUC] has a rate for 24-hour areas, it uses a flat rate for non-24 hour users. The existing regulation does not allow the CUC to charge per gallon,” he said. “The goal is never to increase the rates. It does not propose to raise the water rates. There’s definitely the possibility of more payment for more use of water and I think that’s been clear since day one when we are talking about funding a rate study.”

He noted that the CUC cannot unilaterally impose rate increases due to legislative restrictions.

“There’s no authority because it’s regulated by the Legislature. Any increase must be approved by the Legislature,” said Benavente.

With the new rates, those who are paying $36 per month for water would have a good possibility of paying less than that amount.

“It’s because it will allow them to conserve water and pay for water that they only use,” he said.

He said that based on an estimate, a family with four members would be spending an average of $25 a month based on the national daily use of water per person at 100 to 150 gallons.

“That’s the national average. Here, there’s a lot of things we don’t do that people in the States do. We don’t water our lawns, for instance, because we get enough rains. So there’s enough reason why we should only use about 100 gallons each.

CUC issued last weekend the new rate schedule in view of the ongoing installation of “smart” meters.

For metered service, the rate starts at $1 per 1,000 gallons for the first 3,000 gallons; $2.40 per 1,000 gallons for 3,001 to 15,000 gallons; $3 per 1,000 gallons for the next 15,001 to 30,000 gallons; while the subsequent 30,001 to 60,000 gallons will be charged $3.50 per 1,000 gallons. Consumption exceeding 60,000 gallons will be charged $4 per 1,000 gallons.

Non-metered customers will be assessed only half as much as their metered counterparts.

Non-metered residential customers are deemed to consume 6,000 gallons per month and, therefore, will be assessed a flat rate of $7.20 per month. This represents a reduction from the current flat rate of $11.10 for water.

Non-metered commercial customers are deemed to consume 18,000 gallons per month. They will be charged a flat monthly rate of $27, a slight increase from the current commercial rate of $26.40.

CUC’s emergency regulations also provide a monthly service charge for meters. The charges vary depending on meter size and range from $6 a month for a 5/8-inch meter, to $200 for a 12-inch meter.

The emergency regulation will remain effective for 120 days, unless sooner adopted as permanent regulations.