The County Water Authority’s board tentatively shrank a proposed rate hike for wholesale water from 18 percent to 14 percent on Thursday — despite concerns the move could hurt the water authority’s credit rating.
It would be part of a three-year set of rate hikes that would cumulatively raise rates by more than 40 percent when compounded — if the board also follows through on a 16.4 percent increase in 2026 and a 5.7 percent increase in 2027. Water authority officials say the fundamental problem is that they borrowed money to build and maintain a significantly larger water storage and delivery system than they now need.
“We believe management is taking important steps to mitigate this changing cost profile, including consideration of a proposed rate adjustment of 18 percent in 2025,” the report said. “We’re not going to be taking increases of 18 percent or 19 percent to ratepayers,” said Nick Serrano, an aide to Mayor Todd Gloria and the board’s vice chair.
He said it is particularly frustrating that water conservation by local residents is cited as the primary reason for the proposed hikes. The grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior is for an intake pipe at the Carlsbad desalination plant.