Kelowna water customers face hike

Rob Turner - Jun 30, 2009 CASTANET:
Customers served by the Kelowna city utility department will pay seven per cent more on average for water starting in August. That's the "overall" increase for all customers. Single-family residential customers will face a 4.5 per cent average increase, while commercial and strata customers will pay 9.0 per cent more on average. For agricultural customers, there will be no increase, as council approved a staff report. Council heard that the city's farm users already pay a lot more than agricultural customers in the surrounding irrigation districts.

Council approved the recommendation Monday afternoon, but not before Coun. Angela Reid weighed in on the problem with so-called bulk metering in such establishments as strata developments. Bulk metering means a single water meter is in place for the strata entity regardless of the number of individuals who form the corporation. Consumption by individual owners within a strata corporation are up to 40 per cent higher than consumption by equivalent single-family residences, Joe Creron, civic operations director, told council. "How are you going to encourage consumption if people don't even know what they're using?" Creron commented.
Council approved Reid's motion that staff look into the bulk metering issue with a view to possibly ending the practice in the future. The rate increase does not affect customers using water from other city purveyors SEKID, Rutland Waterworks, Black Mountain Irrigation or Glenmore-Ellison.