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Swansea committee recommends switching metered sewer accounts to 1¢‑per‑gallon billing; board to send customer letter with June bills
Summary
The Swansea Water & Sewer Committee recommended replacing the town's complex 'user unit' billing formula with a straightforward 1¢ per gallon charge for metered accounts to close a long‑running deficit; the board approved mailing an explanatory letter with June bills and plans the new rate to take effect with September billing.
The Swansea selectboard on Tuesday heard a recommendation from the Water & Sewer Committee to change how metered wastewater customers are billed, moving from a unit‑based formula to a simple cost‑per‑gallon rate of 1¢.
Water & Sewer committee representative (S5) said the figure comes from dividing the plant’s operating cost by the system’s estimated flow. “We came up with a 1¢ per gallon cost,” the representative said, explaining the committee estimated roughly 70,000 gallons per day through the plant, about 25.55 million gallons a year, and derived a treatment cost that rounded to $0.01/gal.
That rate is intended to close a structural deficit. The committee’s presenter showed an example account where the older ‘user unit’ method produced bills that left the town treating far more volume than the user fee generated. “That original formula divided inflated per‑unit gallons into usage and produced a low charge; we’re trying to make the charge provable to actual treatment cost,” the representative said.
The board approved including a customer letter drafted by the Department of Public Works with June bills to explain the change and confirmed the per‑gallon billing would be reflected on the September billing cycle. Staff said unmetered apartment complexes could either be converted to meters over time or have their “s‑unit” (user‑point) counts adjusted to reflect occupancy, but those changes will be handled separately and may take longer to implement.
Selectboard members and staff discussed the practical effect on different account types. The committee representative said average household use in Swansea looks closer to 90 gallons per day rather than the older engineering assumption of 260 gallons per day, which inflated equivalency calculations for some multiunit properties; adjusting unmetered units or installing meters are both on the table.
The board directed staff to include the letter with June bills and to revisit technical questions — including whether to issue a new engineering RFP or continue with Underwood Engineers — at the committee’s next meeting. The committee’s representative said the billing change will be provable on metered accounts because customers’ usage is measured directly.
The board did not adopt a specific ordinance or formal rate schedule at the meeting; staff will bring final billing language and implementation details back for further board action before September.
