On January 20, 2015, Utilities Kingston presented to the Committee of the Whole the 2015 operating budget, four-year capital budgets, and proposed rate schedules for the municipal utilities, including water, wastewater and gas utilities, and the appliance rental business. The Committee approved the proposals, which will next be deliberated by the Council of the City of Kingston on February 3, 2015.

2015 operating budget

For 2015, Utilities Kingston requested that Council approve a total operating budget of $32 million, up from $30 million in 2014. This budget includes $13,213,000 for water, $14,424,000 for wastewater, $4,293,000 for gas and $534,000 for the appliance rental business.

A 2.5 per cent increase in operating expenses is reflective of general inflationary increases, with the remainder of the increase attributable to specific pressures related to building costs, one-time costs related to master plans for the water and wastewater utilities, as well as an increase in expenditures to encourage and support conservation initiatives.

Four-year capital budget

Utilities Kingston requested that Council also approve the four-year municipal utility capital budgets as follows:

• Water: $44,970,250
• Wastewater: $150,635,000
• Gas: $17,282,560
• Appliance rental business: $2,470,000
• Total: $215,357,810

The largest project for the planned four-year period is to upgrade and expand treatment capacity at the Cataraqui Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant in order to ensure continued reliability and accommodate growth.

Proposed rate schedules

In accordance with proposed rate schedules, Utilities Kingston requested that Council approve:

• Proposed rate changes for the water and wastewater utilities for 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
• An adjustment to natural gas local distribution rates.
• Proposed rate changes for the 2015 miscellaneous charges for water, sewer, and gas utilities, and the appliance rental business.

Impact on residential bills

Water and wastewater

If approved by Council, based on 16.67 cubic metre monthly usage, the average monthly water/wastewater residential bill will increase 2.6 per cent or $2.20 in 2015 and 2016 respectively, 2.2 per cent or $1.95 in 2017, and 2.2 per cent or $1.97 in 2018.

Gas

The natural gas bill is made up of several parts including for the natural gas commodity, transportation, delivery and storage.

A proposed 3.5 per cent increase in the portion of the bill that represents local distribution costs would mean that the average residential customer will see a $1.27 increase on their monthly gas bill.

Contact

For further information, contact Randy Murphy, Chief Financial Officer for Utilities Kingston at rmurphy@utilitieskingston.com or 613-546-1181, extension 2317.