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Page 3 of 13 70 Discussion on Water Conservation Rates 71 In January, 2009 the City instituted a new water conser vation-based rate structure designed to encourage 72 water conservation in conjunction with the goals and st rategies outlined in the City’s Imagine Roseville 73 2025 initiative, as well as a new State Law that requi red water service providers to encourage water 74 conservation. This law has since been amended and the City is no longer required to have conservation 75 rates as long as they can demonstrate that aggregate water use has declined due to other measures. 76 77 The City created a 2-tiered rate stru cture that was designed to target excessive water usage as opposed to 78 the water used for everyday household needs. It is not unusual to see a 4 or 5 person household use 30,000 79 gallons or more per quarter for general use such as personal hygiene, washing cl othes and dishes, cooking, 80 etc. This is evidenced by evaluating a household’s wintertime usage. In recognition of this, the rate 81 structure was designed to encourage conservation wit hout unduly penalizing larger households for ‘normal’ 82 water use. 83 84 The current water rate structure is as follows: 85 86 Category 2012 Usage Rate SF Residential; Up to 30,000 gals./qtr $ 2.15 SF Residential; Over 30,000 gals./qtr – winter rate * 2.40 SF Residential; Over 30,000 gals./qtr – summer rate ** 2.65 Non-SF Residential – winter rate 2.80 Non-SF Residential – summer rate ** $ 3.10 87 In an effort to gain a broad perspective on city wide household use, the following chart depicts the 88 percentage of single-family homes that fall into the current water rate categories based on usage over the 89 last 12 months and the 2-tiered rate structure. 90 91 CURRENT Water Rate Tier % of SF Homes: Winter % of SF Homes: Summer 0 – 30,000 gallons per quarter 90 % 85 % Over 30,000 per quarter 10 % 15 % Total 100 % 100 % 92 As this table indicates, under the current water rate st ructure, 10-15% of single-fa mily homes are impacted 93 by the higher rates. The Public Works, Environm ent, and Transportation Commission recently discussed 94 the City’s water rate structure and conservation ra tes. The Commission is recommending that the City 95 move to a 3-tier system to incorporate the following breakpoints: 96 97 Tier Description 1 0 – 16,000 gallons per quarter 2 16,000 – 24,000 gallons per quarter 3 Over 24,000 gallons per quarter 98 The threshold of 16,000 gallons between tiers 1 and 2 is based on the current average usage in a single-99 family home. The Commission further recommends that th e rate structure be revenue neutral so that usage 100 rates at tiers 2 and 3 are sufficient to partially offset usag e rates at the first tier. City Staff is comfortable in 101 moving to a 3-tiered system, however the aggregate data continues to suggest that single-family 102 homeowners are already successfully employing a variety of water conservation approaches. 103