Next month, my sewer bill goes up 344%

[SouthernLiberal]

Yeah, I admit I wasn't paying a lot of attention to local news, so this was a shock. I know that sewer rates only go up, but this is terrible. I am 64 years old, retired, and so I have only a meager pension and my savings to live on. We used to pay a small base rate plus an additional amount based on water use. I live alone, so there was never much water use to pay for. Now all residents will pay only the flat fee. I have no idea what a large family paid, but I used to pay $15.13. As of the bill I get in early May, I will be paying $52.10. I'm kind of surprised by the 10 cents.

So... fellow South Carolina residents - How bad were you hit?

[tazkcmo]

1. Not a resident.

That increase is insane.

[dameatball]

2. I thought you were prepping for a colonoscopy.....:)

[OneBlueDotBama]

3. Where in SC?

Haven't heard anything about this.

[SouthernLiberal]

5. Richland County

Outside of Columbia

[OneBlueDotBama]

6. Looked up the story

and it sucks and of course the repub pols will allow the increase to happen, just as they did with Scana (SCG&E) with their failed nuke plant...

[SCantiGOP]

8. Im also Columbia

Outside of city limits, service from a private company Palmetto something. Costs $34.50/month. Hasn’t gone up but once in last ten years or so.
Water from city about the same cost.

[SouthernLiberal]

10. Hi Neighbor!

My sewer service comes from Palmetto of Richland County, water from the city. Because it's just me, I have historically had very low bills from both. Water, around $21 to $20, sewer just over $15.

As I said in the first message, I haven't been paying a lot of attention to local news. I stopped paying for The State years ago, because I wasn't getting the kind of news I wanted. It seemed like every front page was about the Gamecocks.

Now, I get all my news online, from what I feel are reliable sources. (Primarily New York Times and Washington Post) That keeps me up do date on national news, but not SC news. Looking back, I see that this rate increase was discussed almost two years ago and I didn't see it. So, I take full responsibility for being surprised.

I still think that the 'flat rate' is at least partially intended to fall most heavily on small households. Fortunately, I saved well, so I can afford this, at least for now.

I am planning to leave South Carolina in the not too distant future. Not in any sort of protest, just that my loved on lives in Texas. So now, what's on my mind is that my house is not all that big (feels big for one person). Three bedrooms. I suspect that this change will make it at least a little harder to sell a small house, and that it will encourage singles and small families to look elsewhere for a home.

[SCantiGOP]

11. Good luck on your move

I think the rates aren’t much out of line with other areas in SC.
Several houses in my neighborhood have recently sold for more that they were worth before the crash in 2008, so the market should be decent for selling a house.

[procon]

4. Check around, they may have discounts or exemptions for seniors or

the poor. Contact you local, county and state reps for help, the might have info you haven't thought of. Also other govt agencies have assistance programs to help, or NGOs and community services, and charitable groups, all assist low income folks.

[blueinredohio]

7. Here in northwest Ohio my mother pays over $90 a month and no one even lives there as she passed awa

in December, so basically no water gets used. We just now get to put it up for sale.

[Gamecock Lefty]

9. 344%? YIKES!

I grew up on James Island, outside of Charleston, and lived for years in Columbia when I went to school at Carolina. I've been in St Louis since 1992 after grad school. I'm feeling for my fellow South Carolinians.

344% sounds way too high for a one-time increase. We get notifications here in STL regarding rate increases, but we have town halls for discussions long before the increase and the rates have to be approved by some kind of commission here. I never attend these meetings because they are always during the daytime and I'm working (maybe they are planned that way?).

We are still paying a base rate here + water usage.

[appalachiablue]

12. That 344% increase is obscene, pure robbery. I thought my utility & heath ins.

jump this year was bad, they are, but not like this. Is anything going on with the line, or meter to cause this? Guess you've looked into that. Lord...


REC THIS POST, TO BUMP UP!