February 27, 2019
FCA Board of Directors Approves Rate Increase
The Fox Chapel Authority (FCA) Board of Directors has approved a rate increase on all water usage and meter rates effective March 1st, 2019. This will help offset recent rate increases by our water supplier and steadily declining residential water usage over the past decade. The increase is also necessary to adequately build reserves to fund essential capital projects such as installation of new smart meters with leak detection and replacing aging watermains within the distribution system.
The average FCA residential customer using 4300 gallons of water per month with a ⅝″ meter will see an increase of about $7.41 per month. We take seriously our responsibility to keep costs to our customers as low as possible. FCA strives to keep its rates at least 20% below any of the commercial water companies. Water remains a great value when compared to other consumer purchases and is typically the lowest percentage utility cost per household, lower than gas, oil, telephone and electricity.
Planned water meter improvements within the next three to five years will help customers monitor their water usage patterns proactively and receive automated alerts by text or email when established usage parameters have been exceeded. This will help our customers keep their water usage cost low by avoiding wasted water through leakage.
FCA continues to strive to fulfill its public water supply duties of providing excellent water quality and customer service while balancing the need for capital improvements and controlling operating costs.