The city of Battle Ground operates water, sewer and stormwater drainage utilities, serving over 6,600 customers. The safe and reliable delivery of these services is profoundly important to each individual customer and to the overall health of our community.
Utility systems are complex and expensive - nearly $13 million annually for Battle Ground’s three utilities. Establishing appropriate customer rates to support the operations of each utility is of utmost importance to ensure safe and reliable service.
To establish rates, an independent consultant performs a cost-of-service analysis and rate study for each individual utility. From the study, the consultant recommends a rate structure for both residential and non-residential utility users. The recommendations are then presented to the Battle Ground City Council for adoption.
The adopted 2019 residential rates for water, sewer and stormwater drainage are listed below. View commercial and other non-residential rates.
2019 Water Rates
The water utility rate for 2019 has been restructured to a tiered rate so that each customer pays a base fee, and then a usage fee only for the amount of water that is used. Tiered rates are designed to reward customers who use less water by charging the lower rates for water used in the lower tiers. The more water a customer uses, usage moves into the higher tier(s) resulting in higher charges for water use.
Base Fee $10.85
Tier 1 Consumption Rate (1 – 6 units of water) $1.74 per unit
Tier 2 Consumption Rate (7 – 12 units of water) $2.49 per unit
Tier 3 Consumption Rate (13-plus units of water) $3.99 per unit
The average customer, using 8 units of water, will pay a monthly increase of 97 cents (including tax) in 2019. The modest increase in water rates covers inflationary costs and ensures the ongoing operations and maintenance needed to provide safe and reliable service. The water utility continues to employ efficiencies and cost saving measures. Staff levels have not increased in over a decade, and prudent oversight by performing regularly scheduled maintenance on the water system avoids costly repairs due to deferred maintenance.
2019 Sewer Rates
The average customer, using 6 units of sewer, will pay a monthly increase of $4.79 (including tax) for sewer service in 2019. The increase in the rate covers inflationary costs, including the increasing cost of transmitting sewer over 13 miles to the Salmon Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, sewer line repair and replacement, and ongoing operations and maintenance needed to provide safe and reliable service. The sewer utility continues to employ cost saving measures by providing prudent oversight - staff levels have not increased for over 10 years.
Sewer Base Fee $38.60
Rate (per unit, established by winter averaging) $1.50 per unit
2019 Stormwater Drainage Rates
Customers will pay a flat monthly fee of $12.08 in 2019 for stormwater drainage, an increase of $1.59 per month (including taxes).
The WA State Department of Ecology (ECY) strictly regulates stormwater run-off. The stormwater drainage system is the managed, state-regulated infrastructure that that collects, detains and treats stormwater run-off. View the many components of the stormwater drainage system.
The utility, established in 2000, provides revenue to meet ongoing and expanding WA State Department of Ecology / NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) requirements for managing stormwater run-off. Several new NPDES permit requirements will become effective in August of 2019 and require additional staffing in order to maintain the utility’s existing NPDES permit. The increase in rates provides the revenue needed to maintain the city’s required NPDES permit.
Utility Funds
While the city owns and operates the water, sewer, and stormwater drainage utilities, the revenue received from customer-paid rates are, by law, consigned to individual enterprise accounts used exclusively for the cost of providing the utility service. This ensures that utility revenues and costs remain verifiable and separate from other accounts that are tax-funded and support core municipal services such as police, fire, parks, and streets.
More Information
Visit our Utility Service Rates page to view more details about Battle Ground utility services and rates.