ST. GEORGE – In recent days a notice from the City of St. George has been showing up in the mailbox’s of St. George residents. The notification’s purpose is to alert residents concerning unbilled services related to water and electricity funds.
The notifications are part of a law passed by the Utah legislature requiring municipalities to provide more transparency to city utility costumers.
The City of St. George released a statement clarifying the nature of the notifications Wednesday:
For a number of years, the City of St. George has followed a practice of not billing itself for a portion of water and electric services provided to City facilities. Because the costs of these services must still be paid to the City suppliers, these costs have been included in the rates which customers of the City utility system pay for water and electricity.
In the 2014 Utah State legislative session, a bill was passed which requires municipalities to be more transparent of this fact to utility customers by way of notification. A written notice explaining that there are certain unpaid services and a public hearing to take input on this practice are required to be provided to each utility customer. This is the notice which was mailed to utility customers in the last few days.
The total amount of unbilled services for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, is calculated to be approximately $489,000 for water and $650,000 for electricity.
The majority of the unbilled water is for City parks and landscape strips which are not currently able to connect to irrigation or reuse water. This total is $357,000 or 73% of the unbilled water. The majority of the unbilled electricity is to provide power to city wells and pump stations. This total is $548,000 or 84% of the unbilled electricity.
The amount which each utility customer pays in their bill to the City utility system for the net transfer of water and electric services is estimated to be an average of $1.35 per month.
The notice which was mailed does not increase the cost of water or electricity to utility customers. This is a practice which has been followed for a number of years by the City and the costs included in this notice are already included in the rates utility customers are currently paying.
The public hearing, as part of the proposed 2014-2015 fiscal budget hearing, is scheduled for Thursday, June 19 at 5:30 pm in the St. George City Council Chambers.
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$1.35 to live in a beautiful city? Where there are dozens of parks, good lighting on most streets, amazing landscaping, and wonderful atmosphere! Yea, I’m okay with that!
Thanks for the clarification. I received the letter yesterday and it was clear as mud.
I’m ok with $1.35, too!
Thanks for the clarification. I had no idea what the letter was referring to.
I read the notice several times yesterday when I got it in the mail, and I never did understand it. Thank you for the clarification.