No. SB 940
Filed under Local Government.
Municipal Water and Sewer Utility Rates, Fees, and Charges; Deleting a limitation on the amount of rates, fees, and charges municipal water and sewer utilities are authorized to impose on consumers for such services outside the boundaries of the municipality; providing for the continuance and phase out of certain bond covenant surcharges; requiring municipalities operating such utilities to submit a specified rate study every 7 years to the Department of Environmental Protection which evaluates certain information, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDCities that sell water or sewer service to customers outside their boundaries lose the general authority to add a surcharge of up to 25 percent, or up to 50 percent combined with base rates, on those customers.
A narrow exception survives: a city can still collect a surcharge already needed to meet a bond covenant in place before July 1, 2024, but must phase it out once that debt is refinanced or paid off.
Starting in 2028, and every 7 years after, these municipalities must send the Department of Environmental Protection a rate study covering capital needs, revenue adequacy, and whether costs are shared fairly across customer classes.
Smaller utilities get relief: a municipality with fewer than 10,000 water or sewer customers can ask the department for up to two extra years to finish the study.
AIThe sentence granting a municipality authority to add a surcharge of up to 25 percent to outside-of-city customers charged the same rate as in-city customers is deleted outright, not merely capped at a different level.
AIThe equitable-rate method's own surcharge grant and its separate cap -- limiting combined inside/outside charges to a 50 percent difference -- are deleted together, removing that surcharge authority as well.
AIA municipality may keep charging a surcharge only to the extent a bond covenant already in effect on July 1, 2024 requires it, and must eliminate that surcharge once the debt is retired or refinanced.
AIStarting January 1, 2028 and every seven years after, each municipality covered by this section must file a rate study evaluating capital needs, revenue adequacy, and cost equity across customer classes.
AIA municipality serving fewer than 10,000 water or sewer customers may ask the department for up to two additional years to finish the required rate study, on a showing of hardship.