TACOMA, Wash. – Starting Jan. 1, 2024, Tacoma Public Utilities drinking water customers will experience a 5 percent increase related to WestRock as well as an already approved system average rate increase of 4 percent. The WestRock-related rate increase will be applied equally to all customer types and will affect both the fixed and consumption-based parts of the water bill.
In total, the average residential customer inside the City of Tacoma will see their monthly average bill increase from $43.75 to $47.83. Of this increase, $2.28 is associated with the WestRock-related adjustment.
As part of the WestRock rate increase, Tacoma Public Utilities will provide enhanced residential assistance programs for customers who need it most. These enhancements will offset the rate increase for qualifying income thresholds. Customers who qualify for the Bill Credit Assistance Program will see their automatic credit increase from $4 to $6 and their achievable credit increase from $5 to $6.
Tacoma Public Utilities is a not-for-profit, customer-owned utility that only charges for costs to provide services. Westrock’s usage accounted for approximately 1/3 of overall daily use of our water, equal to the water use of more than 100,000 homes and a significant revenue loss for the water utility.
Tacoma Water has a robust source of water, a best-in-class distribution system, and a strong financial position with plans to use reserves near-term to minimize future rate increases. To maintain that strength, we took action to mitigate impacts to our water utility from the unprecedented loss of this significant customer.
While the system will no longer have this large water demand on it, the infrastructure (pipes, filtration plant, reservoirs, water resources) used to serve WestRock and all other Tacoma Water customers will continue to require maintenance. There will be limited ability to remove segments of the system from service to reduce costs. These fixed cost assets are critical to our ability to reliably deliver clean, healthy drinking water to all customers.
