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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWhy_are_my_Water_Bills_always_the_sameWhy are my water bill charges always the same? Water bills consist of fixed and volume charges. Fixed charges are the same over a period of time and are not affected by the amount of water that is used. For Water, Sewer & Fire, the fixed charge depends on the size of the meter. For Storm Water, the fixed charge depends on the Equivalent Runoff Unit (ERU), or the amount of surfaces that are hard in nature and prevent water from sinking into the ground. Volume charges depend on the amount of water used. If water is not used, the variable charges will be $0. Water & Sewer have both fixed and volume charges. Water and Sewer volume charges are calculated per CCF, or hundred cubic feet. Beginning Ending Reading Reading Difference 10306439 10354155 47716 The difference between the beginning reading and the ending reading is 47716. To convert this number to CCFs, the unit we bill in, we have to move the decimal place to the left 4 spaces. The result is 4.7716. Since we round up with a 5 and down with a 4, the billed usage is 5 CCF. Lets look at another example: Beginning Ending Reading Reading Difference 10354155 10404167 50012 The difference between the beginning reading and the ending reading is 50012. To convert this number to CCFs, the unit we bill in, we have to move the decimal place to the left 4 spaces. The result is 5.0012. Since we round up with a 5 and down with a 4, the billed usage is 5 CCF. Here is another example: Beginning Ending Reading Reading Difference 10404167 10459060 54893 The difference between the beginning reading and the ending reading is 54893. To convert this number to CCFs, the unit we bill in, we have to move the decimal place to the left 4 spaces. The result is 5.4893. Since we round up with a 5 and down with a 4, the billed usage is 5 CCF. The number of decimal places that have to be moved to the left in order to convert the difference between the ending reading and the beginning reading to CCF’s depends on the size of the meter. The previous examples were for 5/8” residential meters, so they are moved 4 places to the left. The chart below shows the number of decimal places that must be moved to the left and the corresponding meter sizes. Almost all residential meters are either 5/8” or 3/4”. The size of your meter can be found by logging into your Aquahawk account and clicking in the Estimated Bill box. You may setup an Aquahawk account by going to https://oshkwi.aquahawk.us Meter Size Places to Move Decimal 5/8" -1"4 1 1/4" -2"3 3" +2 As you can see from the previous examples, a usage of water from 4.5 CCF to 5.4 CCF will result in a billed usage of 5 CCF. So it is not uncommon for water customers, that are fairly consistent with their water usage, to have the same billed usage over a period of time.