At today’s board meeting, the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) Board of Directors voted on a new rate resolution, which introduces a new, three-year structure of rate increases.
The 2027 and 2028 rates will increase by 14%, and the 2029 rate will increase by 13.5%.
The average residential customer will see an increase of about $25.19 per quarter for their ALCOSAN charges, or roughly $8.40 per month. The rates will take effect on January 1, but when it appears on customer bills will vary depending on municipal billing schedules and billing cycles.
We recognize that any increase in rates has a direct impact on the households and businesses we serve. Rate adjustments are necessary to support essential operations and continue progress on ALCOSAN's Clean Water Plan, a long-term investment in modernizing aging infrastructure and protecting our region's waterways by removing 7 billon gallons of sewer overflows.
Recently, ALCOSAN made a major stride towards that goal, with the groundbreaking of the Ohio River Tunnel today and an upgrade to 480 million gallons a day (MGD) capacity at the treatment plant earlier this month, effectively removing 3.4 billion gallons of sewer overflows from the region.
While ALCOSAN is rate-payer funded, the Clean Water Plan is part of a Federal Consent Decree.
“Raising rates is never an easy decision,” said ALCOSAN Executive Director Arletta Scott Williams. “We recognize the financial impact on our ratepayers, and the Board and ALCOSAN staff continue to work together to reduce costs associated with the project, including pursuing additional funding opportunities to lessen the financial burden on those we serve, as well as taking a pro-active approach to reducing costs within the Authority.”
Low-income homeowners in the ALCOSAN territory can reduce their bills by applying to the Authority’s Clean Water Assistance Fund. The fund helps low-income families and individuals pay their wastewater treatment bills by contributing $57 every three months. Details of the application process are available at Dollar Energy Fund, at dollarenergy.org.