2023 Rates
Beginning January 1, 2023, we will have changes to our rates.
There are two main components to your water bill: service charge and quantity charge. The service charge, based on your meter size, is fixed and does not vary if you use more or less water. The quantity charge is variable and depends on the amount of water you use. You can find the most current water rates on our billing schedules.
Please note that the California Public Utilities Commission approves all rate changes.
New Surcharge: May 8, 2023
As of May 8, 2023, customers saw a new surcharge on their bill. This surcharge is for M-WRAM (Monterey-Style Water Revenue Adjustment Mechanism), an account that tracks the revenue received from volume charges.
The surcharge will be $0.3026/CCF. For an average user (11 CCF/month), customers will see an increase of $3.33 per month on their bill. This surcharge will last 12 months and is meant to recover the under-collected balance in the M-WRAM for the period of October 2020 to March 2023. Learn more here.
GRC Year 2 – January 2023
Beginning January 1, 2023, you will see a rate increase on your bill. This reflects the second year of our General Rate Case.
Interim Memo Account Surcharge
Typically, a General Rate Case is decided upon and new rates are effective January 1 of each year. SJW’s decision arrived late in 2022 — going into effect on November 1, 2022. The interim surcharge is a way to “catch up” for the authorized rates that were not collected from January-October 2022 bills. This is a temporary surcharge that will be in effect for 12 months beginning January 1, 2023. After this period, it will no longer be charged. The cost will be $4.85 per month for the average residential customer using 11 CCF. Advice Letter 585 provides more information.
CPUC Fee Decrease
This is listed on the bill as PUC Surcharge. In 1983, the Legislature established a Public Utilities Commission Reimbursement Fee to be paid by utilities to fund their regulation by the Commission. This surcharge has been decreased from 1.43% to 0.8% beginning January 1, 2023. This percentage is applied to the bill total.