KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Many people are examining their water bills more closely after using a lot more water during this hot, dry summer. During a week when we’re setting records for water usage, many dread receiving their next water bill. Those who are going through sticker shock may be interested to learn that costs can vary greatly depending on where you live.
About 70 percent of water usage this time of year is from people watering their lawns, gardens and outside plants. Walt Lane says he’s been watering his lawn about four times a week but still wasn’t prepared for the bill.
“I got my bill last month and it was almost $600, like $570,” Lane said. “I thought, ‘Gosh, why is it so high?’ I called a friend of mine who lives in the Overland Park area and we compared our bills. He essentially is consuming about the same amount of water but his bill is half the price.”
Lane lives in Parkville, Mo., where investor-owned utility, Missouri American Water, brags that customers receive water delivered to their homes for about a penny per gallon. That sounds good until you learn Kansas City Missouri Water Services provides more than 4,400 gallons of water to each home for less than half that, 49 cents for every 100 gallons.
Board of Public Utilities customers in Wyandotte County pay 42 cents per 100 gallons for up to 13,764 gallons of water.
In Johnson County, WaterOne customers pay 35 cents for every 100 gallons until they exceed the amount they use during winter months. Then, rates jump to 46 cents per hundred gallons. Kansas City also charges more when customers use more to encourage conservation.
“We really operate three different utilities,” said Amy Jordan Wooden of Kansas City Water Services. “Water, drinking water. Waste water, what gets flushed down toilet or goes down sink and storm water, the rainfall that comes off your property. For Kansas City Missouri customers you get one bill for those three utilities. It is very difficult to do an apples to apples comparison among jurisdictions.”
It gets more confusing when some utilities, like Missouri American and the B.P.U. actually charge less for water when you use more. Lane says he used more than 65,000 gallons of water last month, and paid about 78 cents for each hundred gallons.
Missouri American Water’s External Affairs Manager Christie Barnhart said the company wanted to implement a uniform rate structure statewide that would have lowered rates in Platte County. Barnhart said the Missouri Public Service Commission did not approve the plan in part because government-owned water utilities opposed it.