Sept 2009

Utility rate hikes proposed by the City of Portage la Prairie are going to cost the city’s biggest industries big dollars.

Sewer rates are set to rise by nine per cent per year for domestic usage and 13 per cent for commercial usage while water rates are set to rise by one per cent for domestic and intermediate usage and three per cent for heavy usage.

The proposed increases are to help out with the province’s mandate that the city perform nutrient removal from its wastewater to help cut down on pollution in Lake Winnipeg.

For Simplot, the water rate increase means a lot of money as the company’s entire operation uses water.

“It’s in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in the next few years,” unit director Chris Tompkins said.

Tompkins said Simplot uses about 1 million gallons of water per day. That equals about 3,785,400 litres.

Tompkins, who has already met with city manager Dale Lyle, operations manager for the city Kelly Braden and director of finance for the city Nettie Neudorf, said he expects the Public Utilities Board to hold a public hearing on the rate hikes, which he will attend.

He also added that it’s difficult for the business to further cut down on its water usage as it already makes every effort to be as efficient as possible with its water usage.

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