Water and Sewer Billing

A utility bill will be sent to you every three months.  Your bill will be broken into sections to assist you with appropriately tracking costs.  Effective with the July 2007 utility bill the rates will be:

·                    Commodity Charge.  This is the cost of water which is measured in 1,000 gallon increments.  The cost per 1,000 gallons is $1.85; and $2.78 per 1,000 gallons for customers residing outside the City limits.  The cost per 1,000 gallons of sewer (based on water meter reading) is $2.85.

·                    Facilities Maintenance Charge.  The City charges a facilities maintenance charge which assists in covering the cost of retiring outstanding debt on the water system and the sanitary sewer system, including the wastewater treatment plant.   This charge is billed based on a “residential equivalent unit” (REUs) with one REU equalling 22,000 gallons of usage.

§         The water facilities maintenance charge is $11.25 per REU in the City; $16.88 per REU outside the City.

§         The sewer facilities maintenance charge is $30.00 per REU in the City or Township.

·                    Other Charges.  Ionia Township charges $27.17 to South Ionia residents to retire debt on lines in that area.

·                    Fire Suppression Charge.  The City levies a $500 fire suppression system charge per quarter for commercial customers with internal sprinkler fire suppression systems.  This charge covers the cost of the City’s cross connection program and the readiness to serve charge for the water service line that feeds the sprinkler fire suppression system.