How to read your utility bill to determine if you're overcharged

How to read your utility bill to determine how much water per year you're using and possibly overcharged for sewage fees

A sample of  the bar graph that is shown at the bottom of your utility is shown here.

Hundred cubic feet (HCF) = 748 gallons of water

Get your utility bill and look the bottom, there is a bar graph similar to the one above. The bar graph shows the number of hundred cubic feet ( HCF)  units of water coming into you're house per month and year. This is important because you are charged a flat rate fee for how much sewage water you're using. The city charges for a single family parcel as if there are 3.37 persons per household (PPH) living on the parcel and using 65 gallons a day every day of the year. This equates to the following number of gallons per year.

(3.37 PPH) X  (65 gallons per day)  X (365 days a year) = 79,953.25 gallons.

It is necessary to convert number of gallons of water to HCF units, because the bar graph is uses HCF units. To convert to HCF units divide the number of gallons by 748.

 Thus 79,953.25 gallons / 748 gallons per HCF =  106.89 HCF units per year.

 The current sewage charge for all single family unit is $455.52 per year. To calculate what your fee per HCF should be is to take your yearly fee of $455.52  and divide by 106.89 HCF.

$455.52/106.89 HCF = $4.46 per HCF. The highest business charge is $5.38 and the average is about $3.33.

Are you overcharged for you service? This would occur if you use less then 79,953 gallons a year or 106.89 HCF per year.

The bar graph sample above shows in a year that this parcel is only using 6 HCF units per year. Each bar is 1 HCF and there are 6 bars in the year. The cost this parcel should be paying is $4.46/HCF x 6 HCF units is  $26.76. The result is an over charge of  $455.52 - $26.76 =  $428.76. This graph  is most likely for a single person, but even so you still could be overcharged by a large amount even if there are 2 or more people and the parcel is not using 65 gallons a day, every day of the year. That is the reason why you need to check. In the bar graph shown there, if there is only 6 HCF used in a year and the city is charging the single family resident as if the parcel was using 106.89 HCF units in sewage a year then there is more water leaving the parcel in sewage then the water coming into the parcel. Of course this is impossible, but the city still wants to charge you a flat fee of $455.52 per year. This problem occurs because the city uses a flat rate fee to charge all residential units. The business units are charged what their actually used, but residential units not. The city's general plan chapter 7 page 45 shows a table of number of people per household. The table shows that there are 1,364 parcels that have only one person. These parcels are all over charged. The ratio of single family to multifamily units is 2 out of 3. The number of single family units that only have two people is 2/3 of  3,167 parcel owners or 2,111 parcels . This is 2,111 single family parcels that have only two persons per household. These parcels are also overcharged, because the city is using 3.37 people per household for single family units. Together with one person per household  at 909 parcels, and two people per household at 2,111 then the number of  single family units is 3,020 households that are over charged. Divide your yearly bill by the number of HCF from your bar graph and you will find how much your actually paying compared to business parcels. Using the example above for single family would be $455.52/6 = $75.92. For multifamily it would be $255.75/6 = $42.63.

 Article XIII D section 6 state

(1) Revenues derived from the fee or charge shall not exceed the funds required to provide the property related service.

(2) Revenues derived from the fee or charge shall not be used for any purpose other than that for which the fee or charge was imposed.

(3) The amount of a fee or charge imposed upon any parcel or person as an incident of property ownership shall not exceed the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcels the following:

The city has violated section 6 b(1) and b(3) because the fees exceed the funds required to provide the property related service and the fee exceeds the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcel. Notes it says "any parcel", this means that if one parcel is overcharged then there is a violation of the state law. The city has also violated section 6 (1) which states

"The city shall identify parcels upon which the fee or charge is proposed for imposition, the amount of the fee or charge proposed to be imposed upon each, the basis upon which the amount of the proposed fee or charge was calculated..."

The city did not provide the basis upon which the amount of the proposed fee was calculated, which  means that the city did not state how the fees are calculated in the utility notice that sent to the parcel owners in April of 2011.

Multifamily units are charged $306.36 flat rate fee. In the example above if the parcel used 6 HCF units a year then their overcharge would be $306.36 - $26.76 =  $279.60.  Why is the yearly flat rate fee less for multifamily units than single family units, because the city uses only 2.05 PPH and only 60 gallons a day for 365 days a year. This amounts to 44895 gallons a year or 60.02 HCF per year. The multifamily units are overcharged if their using less then 44895 gallons a year and undercharged if their using more then 44,849 gallons a year.

Your fees are most likely different from the example above but there are over 2,500 households in Milpitas that are overcharged because there are only 2 or less people living in those parcels. They are mostly seniors that are effected. What can you do if you're overcharged? Call you city council members and tell them you're overcharged and do not vote for them in November. The council members that are up for renewal are the Mayor Esteves and Debby Giordano. They both voted to increase your sewage charge by 7% for single family and your water fixed rate fee by 15%, and 16% increase in water fees for less then 10 HCF, and  68.36% incease in water fees above 10 HCF. Those water and sewage charges could go even higher in the future.