Water and sewer rates in the Clark County will go up this year as the utilities office seeks to continue “to provide reliable, safe drinking water and clean waste water,” said utilities chief Throw Bauer during last week’s province bonus meeting, at which the rates were endorsed.
Most customers will receive a 3.5% water and sewer rate increase, including those in western Clark County such as Park Layne, Huber Heights, Clark County, Greene County, Medway, Diamond Lake, Green Meadows and parts of Mad Creek Twp.
Customers served by the City of Springfield, including Northridge Limecrest and Rockway, will receive a 3.5% sewer increase and a 12% water increase.
Bauer said that 75 percent of customers use 600 cubic feet a month or less, which is approximately 4,500 gallons. The district has more than 8,500 accounts and 22,000 people in four quadrants.
While the area builds go on, residents will also hear statewide increases by CenterPoint, AES Ohio and FirstEnergy (Ohio Edison), all of which have asked the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to increase circulation rates, said representatives of the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC), who advocate on behalf of the consumer on utility issues.
CenterPoint is asking for a 25% increase, AES is asking for a 14% growth and FirstEnergy is asking customers to pay $190 million something else for their distribution service, which would be a 3.4% increase.