Most Fountain Hills residents received a pleasant surprise when they opened their most recent monthly bill from EPCOR Water to discover they owed little or nothing.

EPCOR received a tax break of about $4 million due to tax reform last year and chose to use the windfall as a one-time break for customers, which has been reflected in the company’s May billing. The credit was $32 for residential customers with a 3/4-inch meter size and about $52 for a 1-inch meter.

This good news was explained by EPCOR officials at an open house meeting on Wednesday, May 15, along with an explanation of an interim rate surcharge that was shown on the May billing, but not immediately reflected due to the tax break.

The interim surcharge will be in effect over the time it takes to get a new rate schedule approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), which will likely take until mid-year 2021.

The interim charge came about after the ACC declined to approve a rate request in March that was based on a proposed plan to consolidate EPCOR’s 12 different districts in Arizona.

The ACC followed up with an order for the company to file a new rate case by May 1, 2020 based on a regional plan for consolidation.

For EPCOR’s Chaparral District serving Fountain Hills and the Verdes, the new interim rate is $7.20 on a 3/4-inch meter plus about 97-cents per gallon. For a bill with average use of about 7,400 gallons per month the new bill is about $52, up from the previous average of just under $45.

The new interim rate for a 1-inch meter is $10.35. With an average use of 10,630 gallons the new bill should be around $85.41 – up from a previous average of $75.

While the new rates were not approved, the ACC did approve an EPCOR request for customer assistance programs. Those include low income and disabled veterans assistance of $10 per month. There is also a deployed service member credit which will waive monthly billing for an eligible member of the military who is deployed.

Additional information regarding the assistance programs may be obtained by visiting epcor.com, calling 1-800-383-0834 or by email at mywater@epcor.com.

Sunridge work

EPCOR officials reported that the water main replacement project on Sunridge Drive is on schedule and should be completed by late summer.

It was explained that faulty installation of the original water line, done when the SunRidge Canyon infrastructure was built, had caused failures of the line along Sunridge. EPCOR made the decision to replace about one mile of 12-inch main to avoid continued line failures prompting emergency repairs.