The Water Authority of Western Nassau County is considering a new rate structure that would give the average customer a lower water bill and charge heavier water users more.
A rate study released last week recommended a move to an “increasing block structure,” in which the water rate increases with the amount of water used.
The authority, which serves New Hyde Park, Elmont, Bellerose, Garden City, Stewart Manor, and parts of Franklin Square and Valley Stream, commissioned the study from Woodbury-based D&B Engineering and Architects earlier this year.
This is the first time it has evaluated its rate structure since it started supplying water in 1996.
The water authority’s revenue and expenses would stay roughly the same under the new rates, water authority Superintendent Mick Tierney said.
But they would help promote water conservation, which is important to sustaining the area’s water supply and the water authority’s infrastructure.
“For the good of the water authority and for the good of Long Island, it’s really critical that we go to a more conservative, conservation-based structure,” Tierney said.
Typical residential and commercial users would see lower water rates in two different tiers.
For the first 144,000 gallons, they would pay $3.479 per 1,000 gallons, about 20 cents below the current rate of $3.68 per 1,000 gallons for the first 105,000 gallons.
Those customers would pay a higher rate of $3.593 per 1,000 gallons to use more than 144,000 gallons of water. They currently pay $2.52 per 1,000 gallons above the 105,000 gallon mark.
The study also recommends a quarterly minimum charge that changes depending on the size of the water main a customer uses.
The average residential user, which uses a 5/8-inch main, would pay $40.83 each quarter.
Commercial customers, who typically use a one-inch main, would pay $102.08.
The study also suggests that the water authority charge local fire departments $1,010 to maintain the authority’s 2,432 fire hydrants, $74 more than the current rate.
The new rates would save average residential customers about 8.5 percent and commercial customers about 4 percent each year.
On the other hand, the two biggest users — Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Valley Stream and Belmont Park in Elmont — would both pay between 32 and 33 percent more.
The study also proposes an alternative structure that would freeze the hydrant rates and transfer the cost to the other customer classes.
Under the alternative structure, residential and commercial customers would see slightly lower savings of 7.27 and 3.24 percent respectively. Franklin Hospital and Belmont Park would see steeper increases of 33.63 and 32.6 percent, respectively.
The new rate structure would make the water authority’s typical residential bill $399.03, the sixth-highest among 15 Long Island water providers.
The New Hyde Park Fire District has previously asked the water authority to freeze its rates, Tierney said in July.
The fire district’s urging, combined with the fact that rates had not been examined in almost 20 years, motivated the authority to conduct the study, he said.
The water authority will soon hold hearings to get public comments about the proposed rates. Tierney said he expects Fire District representatives to be “active players” at the hearings.
The fire district could not be reached for comment.
