JCWSA plans to lower water rate to entice Braselton as customer
By reducing its wholesale water rate, the Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority hopes to entice Braselton to buy water from it instead of from Gwinnett County.
The authority is expected to act Thursday, April 17, on a proposal by its chairman, Hunter Bicknell, to reduce its wholesale rate to a flat $3 per 1,000 gallons.
Currently, the rates differ with virtually every customer. The authority sells water to both Braselton and Hoschton, as well as to Jefferson at rates ranging from about $3 to $4.50 per 1,000 gallons.
Bicknell hopes the rate reduction will allow the authority to supplant Gwinnett County as a water supplier to Braselton, a move that, he says, could bring in $30,000 a month in additional revenue based on the sale of about 11 million gallons per month (mgm).
To do that, however, the authority would have to beat Gwinnett’s price, which Bicknell said is $3.60 per 1,000 gallons.
Driving the proposal is the authority’s cost for water from the Bear Creek Reservoir, a cost that declines (per 1,000 gallons) as it takes more water. Selling an extra 11 (mgm) to Braselton would not only generate more revenue for the authority, but it would also lower the authority’s overall cost per 1,000 gallons. During 2006, the authority’s average cost per 1,000 gallons was $1.50 as it sold an average of 61.8 mgm. But in 2007, with sales restricted by the drought, the cost rose to $2 per 1,000 gallons for the year and peaked at $4.15 per 1,000 gallons in November when water restrictions reduced usage to 19.2 million gallons.
“We need to sell all the water we can sell and drive down the cost of water from Bear Creek,” pointed out manager Eric Klerk.
According to Bicknell, Braselton buys about 11 mgm from Gwinnett County. It also buys 700,000 gallons per day from Barrow County at $1.60/1,000 gallons — a price the authority can’t match.
The authority has apparently made overtures to Braselton about switching to Bear Creek water.
“They have indicated a price they would like to get it for — less than $3,” said Bicknell, who suggested that the authority could probably do better. “If it is cheaper from us, that 11 million gallons a day would come from us, not Gwinnett County,” he added.
Under its current tiered structure, the more water a customer buys, the more it costs per 1,000 gallons. Bicknell wants to do away with that “conservation rate.”
“We shouldn’t have conservation pricing on our wholesale sales,” he said. “Conservation pricing should be handled at the retail level.”
While the change could benefit Braselton, it would have little effect on Hoschton and Jefferson, which also buy from the authority. Hoschton already pays about $3/1,000, while Jefferson has a long-standing contract under which it can buy 200,000 to 250,000 gallons per day at well under $3/1,000.
