More than 122,000 water customers in region will see rates increase by 9%

Water and sewer rates will increase in April for Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County customers.

Authority board members Wednesday unanimously approved 9% increases as part of a $117 million budget officials said was impacted by rising costs associated with the water and sewer service.

“The board directed management to keep it to a single-digit increase,” said authority board Chairman Randy Roadman. “We are here to provide customers with safe and clean water, and costs associated with that have gone up dramatically. We went through the budget multiple times to keep it (the rate hike) as low as possible.”

The authority provides water to more than 122,000 customers in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Armstrong, Fayette and Indiana counties. It is the first rate hike since 2018, the final year of a three-year 39% increase in water rates for authority customers that was first implemented in 2016.

Customers are expected to see water bills increase by about $3.56 a month for 3,000 gallons of water used, or nearly $43 during the 2024-25 fiscal year that starts in April.

“The average increase is only one cent for each gallon,” Roadman said.

Authority officials blamed the increase on the rising costs for electricity, as well as for chemicals and other supplies used to treat the water before it is sent to customers.

“It’s all about inflation, and we have to counteract it,” board member John Sphon said.

Rates also will increase for most of the authority’s more than 31,000 sewer customers, although how much more customers will pay will depends on where they live. The authority’s sewer customers are segregated into 11 systems that were purchased by MAWC over the past two decades.

Each system operates with different rate scales, but the increases are expected to average about 9% for most customers, authority business manager Brian Hohman said.

About 4,000 authority sewer customers in White Oak will see their bills jump by more than 70%, from $29.88 to $54 a month. Authority leaders said the White Oak rate hike is based on charges assessed by Pennsylvania American Water Co., which operates a sewer treatment plant in McKeesport that services White Oak customers for MAWC.

Rates for sewer customers in East Huntingdon and Scottdale will remain at current levels.

Overall, the rate hikes are expected to generate an additional $7 million in revenue for the authority.

The new budget anticipates more than $118.4 million in revenues, with about $94.6 million from water sale, another $20.6 million through sewer services and about $3.2 million through other sources, including royalties on sales of natural gas collected at well sites on authority property.

Officials said about $7.9 million will be allocated over the next year for capital improvements to the water and sewer systems. Hohman said the authority projects to end the fiscal year with a $1 million surplus.

Meanwhile, leaders will eye a plan to borrow additional funds later in 2024 to pay for additional upgrades to the water and sewer systems.

Hohman said the amount to be borrowed has yet to be determined but is not expected to exceed the $150 million bond issue finalized by the authority in 2016 that was used to pay for major projects, including an ongoing expansion of the authority’s water treatment plant near Connellsville.

“We hope to identify the amount during the second half of the year when interests rates come down,” Hohman said.