Agricultural Water Rates Going Up

Vernon, BC, Canada / 1075 KISS FM Ron Manz March 23, 2017 03:00 pm
Agricultural customers in the Greater Vernon Water District will be seeing their rates increasing over the next three years. Currently between $950-thousand and a million, fifty thousand dollars is collected for agricultural water use, but the actual cost is much more. Regional District North Okanagan Chair Bob Fleming says a 3.7% hike will be phased in over a 3 year period. “The rates will be eased up over a three year period to try to balance that so that what is designated or what we can reasonably capture as agricultural costs are being recovered through agricultural rates.” “The costs that can be specifically allocated to agriculture is somewhere between $950,000 and $1,050,000 and right now we are falling a little bit short of capturing that through agricultural rates.” “Right now agriculture is not completed separated from the domestic service.” That domestic service currently collects fees based on 50% from a fixed rate for water use and 50% on variable rates to encourage conservation.