Brampton (Mar 20) – Starting April 1, Peel Region water bills will look different and the way property owners in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon are charged for water and wastewater will change.
Instead of a single water consumption charge, customer bills will have two parts: a service delivery charge and a consumption charge. Officials say that the region is not collecting more overall revenue and that “using a service delivery charge to cover fixed costs means the consumption charge will now be lower”.
In a news release, officials explained that the service delivery charge supports the more than 80% in fixed costs needed to bring water to homes and businesses and to collect and treat wastewater, such as: staff required to maintain pipes and treatment plants, meter reading and billing costs, chemicals needed to provide clean, safe water, and more.
As a result of the change, single-unit residential customers will now have a water rate with two levels.
- The basic-use rate: less than and equal to 50 cubic metres of water is charged at a lower rate (the lower rate covers some of the day-to-day essential water uses such as cleaning, cooking, washing).
- Higher use rate: water used above 50 cubic metres is charged at a higher rate.
However multi-unit residential and business (industrial, commercial, and institutional) customers will continue to have one water rate.
Wastewater billing was also reviewed as part of the financial planning process. Charging for wastewater based on the amount of water used remains the industry standard, officials stated.
For single-unit residential and multi-unit residential customers, wastewater will continue to be billed based on 85% of the amount of water used. This represents the typical return flow to the wastewater system from homes.
For industrial, commercial, and institutional customers, wastewater will continue to be billed based on 100% of water used.
More information on the changes, 2024 water and wastewater rates is available at peelregion.ca/water/billing.
