SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) needs to fill up a larger bucket, and it’s looking to customers to open the tap.
The city-owned water utility expects it will needs to raise revenues across its water supply, water delivery and wastewater systems by nearly 42% over the next five years. The additional revenue would cover operating costs and billions of dollars worth of capital expenses, including upgrading wastewater treatment plants, replacing pipes and installing backup generators.
The actual rates to cover the projected revenue needs haven’t been proposed yet. Both the utility and Carollo Engineers, a consultant SAWS has hired to develop those revenue needs, said the numbers presented to trustees on Monday were not a direct translation for how much customers’ bills will increase.
“This does not mean that all of these rates are going up by these percentages, and it does not mean that bills — all bills are going up by this percentage," said Jennifer Ivey from Carollo Engineers while presenting the various projections. “We still are working on the analysis to determine those actual rate increases and customer bill increases."
Ivey said her firm agreed to use the SAWS financial planning model and projections. She expects to return in January with recommended rates.
SAWS trustees could vote on rates in March, though the San Antonio City Council would also have to approve them. If passed, the utility has indicated the rates would likely take effect during the first half of 2026.
SAWS rates last went up in 2020, though the utility also restructured its rate system ahead of 2023, which did not affect its overall revenue. The restructuring resulted in many residential bills dropping, though there was an increase in commercial rates.
Ivey and SAWS Vice President of Customer Experience and Strategic Initiatives Cecilia Velasquez said the new structure would remain in place.
“So, all of those rate structures will stay the same, whether it’s two tiers, three tiers, five tiers, and all of the intricacies of that,” Velasquez said. “But the rates in and of themselves will be updated.”
Though there are no concrete numbers yet, a rate hike isn’t something most people would look forward to.
“I mean, everything’s just so expensive,” Dionicio Neaves told KSAT. “I mean, gas is crazy. I mean, you know, that’s just another budget that we gotta figure out.”
“A bigger bill doesn’t help our pockets,” Humberto Beltran said.
CPS Energy officials have also said they plan to debate raising their rates next year.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, who sits on the boards of both utilities, said it’s not just that.
“There’s also what’s going on more broadly, right, with the implementation of the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ which will see cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and SNAP, which then gets to the elasticity of some of these groups to actually pay, which is ultimately what I care about, right?” Jones said during the SAWS board discussion.
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