Board introduces water and sewer fee increases tied to $300 million transmission main project

Henrico County officials on March 10 introduced an ordinance to advertise proposed increases in water and sewer service and volume charges, a step that sets the matter for a public hearing on April 14.

Bentley Chan, Director of Public Utilities, told the board the proposed changes would increase bimonthly charges for the median residential account (10 CCF usage) by about $7.7, or roughly 13 cents per day. Chan said the bulk of the increase is intended to finance capital projects, notably an East End transmission main that he described as a roughly $300 million program to place a 42-inch, 30-mile line designed to improve redundancy and resiliency in the county’s water system.

"With this $300,000,000 project that will extend a 30-mile 42-inch line, we'll be able to use the capacity inherent to our water-treatment facility and utilize additional capacity in the James River and Cobbs Creek Reservoir project," Chan said, framing the work as a response to lessons learned during the county’s water crisis last year.

Board members pressed for detail about whether the project primarily served industrial or data-center customers. Chan said the project is about serving existing customers and improving system reliability, not to funnel additional supply to White Oak Tech Park, and that White Oak still has unused allocation relative to earlier microchip plans. He reiterated that the rate action introduced on March 10 is for advertisement and that the board will return on April 14 for a public hearing and vote.

The ordinance introduction passed by voice vote; the board set the formal public hearing for April 14, 2026. Because this action was an introduction and advertisement, any rate changes would not take effect until after the public hearing and subsequent board action, with changes proposed to be effective on July 1, 2026.