Oklahoma City Council Caps Price Of Water, Lowering Cost To Residents After February Faucet Dripping

Press release from the City of Oklahoma City:

March 16, 2021

The Oklahoma City Council voted Tuesday to cap the price of water, helping customers who dripped their faucets during extreme February cold.

The emergency action means all Oklahoma City residential water customers will pay no more than Tier 2 pricing for water use above 2,000 gallons. Normally, the price of water increases when customers use more than 10,000 gallons in one billing cycle.

“We know that our customers dripped faucets during the extreme cold snap in February to protect their own pipes from damage, but the reality is it helped our entire community,” said Utilities Director Chris Browning. “If people didn’t drip and their pipes burst, it would have decreased water pressure even more throughout our service area. That could have put our firefighters and other important services at risk of not having enough water.”

Non-residential water customers will also have all billing for water use above the first tier at the Tier 2 prices.

Oklahoma City water service customers are billed based on how much water they use. For residential customers, the cost is $3.11 per 1,000 gallons for the first 2,000 gallons (Tier 1). It rises to $3.61 per 1,000 gallons from 2,001 to 10,000 gallons (Tier 2). Higher rates apply beyond 10,000 gallons to encourage water conservation and system demand management. A similar tiered system is used for non-residential customers.

Many residents who normally would not exceed 10,000 gallons during the winter exceeded that total in February, most likely due to dripping faucets during the week of record-setting cold weather. Without Tuesday’s Council action, those residents would have received a higher water bill than usual.

This press release was produced by the City of Oklahoma City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.