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Tiered Water Pricing Could Be Mandated Statewide

Brian Grimmett
Deer Creek Reservoir

The Utah Senate has passed a bill that its sponsor hopes will help communities better conserve water.

Republican State Senator Scott Jenkins’ bill would require culinary water providers to charge their customers based on how much water they use. While many water providers already do this, several others in the state charge a flat fee based on property taxes, regardless of how much water a user consumes.

“We’re saying look, go ahead and tier your rate structure so that people know the more they use the more it’s going to cost them,” he said.

SB 28 passed easily in the Senate receiving only two “No” votes. One of those was from Republican Senator Peter Knudson of Brigham City.

“Will there have to be changes in communities where water meters may not have the ability to give the information that you’re discussing?” Knudson asked.

Senator Jenkins replied that he thinks most water providers already do this kind of metering, but, “If there are some out there that don’t meter they would not physically have the ability to do this, because they’d have no way of stepping that up.”

“Right, that could be a fairly significant expense,” Knudson noted.

The bill stems from a recommendation made by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General. The legislation now moves to the Utah House for consideration. 

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