17 Mar OWASA Invites Comment on Proposed Changes to System Development Fees
Water and sewer utilities perform studies of their rates and fees periodically to ensure the utility is recovering the costs of providing services and doing so equitably across their customer bases. Pursuant to North Carolina law, North Carolina water and sewer utilities are required to conduct a study of their System Development Fees no less than every five years. OWASA’s most recent study was conducted in 2018, and is currently conducting a study in 2023.
The fee is applicable to each new connection to the water and sewer system, and due to differences in cost of service, different rates apply to residential vs. commercial locations as well as to different-sized meters.
OWASA is a non-profit agency and reinvests all money collected into providing the Carrboro-Chapel Hill community with safe, high-quality, and reliable water, sewer, and reclaimed water service. All OWASA fees and charges are based on the costs of providing services.
A comparison of existing fees and the proposed fees is shown in the table below:
You can learn more about the proposed fee changes and the methodology used to calculate the new fees by checking out the OWASA’s latest Water and Sewer System Development Fee Study.
As a part of the North Carolina legal requirement, OWASA is inviting comments on the proposed study. If you care to comment, please do so by May 1, 2023. You may submit your comment by mail, by email at info@owasa.org, or by filling out the form below.
In addition to this comment period, OWASA will hold a public hearing on its rates, fees and charges, including the proposed new System Development Fees, on May 11, 2023, at 6:00 PM in the OWASA Community Room, 400 Jones Ferry Road, Carrboro. We invite the public to attend and comment on the proposed changes at the hearing.