News

Sewer, electric rate increases in the pipeline in Ipswich

By Steve Landwehr
Staff writer
Published: July 2, 2008

IPSWICH — A 14-cent increase in the sewer rate passed its first sniff test last night, but Utilities Director Tim Henry still has some sniffing around to do before an electricity rate increase will be declared odor-free.

The selectmen, in their capacity as water commissioners, heard Henry's explanation for the increase at their meeting last night.

Many factors determine how individual customers are billed, but the average residential homeowner will see the sewer rate climb from $4.72 per hundred cubic feet of water consumed to $4.86.

Waste haulers who dump their loads at the sewage treatment plant, from septic systems within the town confines, will also be paying more, but Henry said septage from surrounding communities has been steadily increasing and defraying costs for Ipswich homeowners.

Henry said out-of-town septage will account for about $500,000 of income this year.

Henry showed a chart that portrayed yearly sewer cost in surrounding communities, based on 12,000 gallons of water use a year, a bit more than the average customer in Ipswich uses. For that much sewer usage, the new rule results in a bill of about $145 a year, a bit less than in Gloucester, a bit more than Amesbury.

The electric rate increase is a case of the other shoe dropping. The Electric Light Department forecast rates would go up a half-penny per kilowatt hour to cover the cost of the Vermette Court substation upgrade approved at last fall's Special Town Meeting. The project will cost $7.5 million.

Henry said this is the first rate increase in 25 years, and if you're thinking your bill has gone up constantly, it's because the fee being increased is just what the Light Department charges to deliver electricity. There's a separate charge on your bill for the electricity itself, and that has gone up dramatically.

The average customer's cost will depend on usage, but the increase translates into an additional $30 a year on the low end to $90 on the high end.

Henry had another chart portraying the monthly cost of electricity in Ipswich to that in other communities with municipal power. At $66.34, Ipswich was in the top of the middle third of the chart.

Selectman Elizabeth Kilcoyne wanted to know why communities such as Middleton, at $52.94, were so much cheaper.

Henry replied there were a host of reasons that would vary from community to community.

"I'll pick one then," Kilcoyne said. "Norwood."

Henry promised to examine the differences between the two towns by the selectmen's next meeting, when they'll vote on both fee increases.