Oakdale Irrigation District raises agricultural water rates
The Oakdale Irrigation District board on Tuesday morning raised the price of water for its 2,900 agricultural customers – the first increase in more than 20 years.
OID farm customers will pay a base water rate of $27 per acre, an increase from $19.50. The change is effective immediately.
Directors Al Bairos, Herman Doornenbal, Frank Clark and Steve Webb voted unanimously to approve the rate increase, which will generate about $500,000 a year in new revenue, according to a news release from the district. Director Jack Alpers was ill and did not attend.
Tuesday’s action also brings OID into compliance with state requirements to measure how much water is delivered to customers and adopt volumetric pricing, the news release said. The plan features a tiered pricing structure that combines the base rate with a volumetric rate to reflect how much water farmers use.
The rates will be phased in over two or three years, OID General Manager Steve Knell said in the release. He said 2015 will be a transition period; ag customers will be charged a flat $27 per acre, but their bimonthly bills also will reflect what they would have paid under the tiered structure based on existing meters or accepted calculations of water use per crop.
In future years, the structure will include the base rate, plus suggested charges per acre-foot. The maximum rates begin at $3.15 for the first three acre-feet and rise to $6.25, $8.30, $10.40 and $20.75 at successive levels. The board will determine pricing each November.
The phased-in approach, Knell said, anticipates that farmers will invest in ways to improve their water efficiency before the full rate increase takes effect. It also gives OID time to upgrade its metering and measuring capability, which covers about 70percent of the district today.
Tuesday’s action does not affect OID’s 650 domestic water users.
This story was originally published November 4, 2014 at 1:25 PM with the headline "Oakdale Irrigation District raises agricultural water rates."