The San Antonio Water System is proposing a rate increase for many of its customers. That change, if approved, would eventually increase bills for residents by an average of $19 a month.
Those changes could hit customers’ bills as soon as July 1.
SAWS is proposing rate adjustments to residential, general and irrigation customers to fund $3.2 billion in capital improvements through 2030. Businesses and apartment complexes will have slightly larger rate increases than residents and irrigators.
The utility wants to spread out the adjustments to rates over the next four years. Right now, the average monthly bill for San Antonio residents is $56.68. By 2029 it would be $75.19, an increase of 32.7% over the next four years.
That adjustment would be broken into smaller chunks, average increases to monthly bills between $4.47 and $4.73, that are implemented each year. City of San Antonio staff would look at the increases again before they go into effect for 2028 and 2029.
Customers that participate in SAWS’ Uplift Programs, which serve low-income residents with lower rates, would not have their rates changed. SAWS serves between 28,000 and 29,000 Uplift customers. As a part of the rate increase, the income requirements for Uplift customers will rise from 125% of the federal poverty level to 150% — an annual income of $49,500 for a family of four.
General customers — a class that includes businesses, industrial users and apartments — will see average bills increase by 33.3%, the largest change of all three classes. Irrigation customers will see an average bill increase of 32% between 2026 and 2029, the lowest change.
Cecilia Velasquez, the utility’s vice president of customer experience and strategic initiatives, said the increases were tied to how much it will cost to make improvements for each group of customers. SAWS got those numbers from a rate study performed last year by Carollo, a California-based water consultant.
Individual customers will have slightly different rate adjustments depending on their water usage, Velasquez added.
For irrigation and general customers, higher water use will result in higher increases. For example, a business using 10,000 gallons of water would see its monthly bill increase by 5.9%. Another using 100,000 gallons of water in the same period would have its monthly cost increase by 6.7%.
The rate increases would generate $299 million for SAWS by 2029. That’s a far cry from the anticipated $3.2 billion total spend on capital improvements, but that’s because a portion of that will be paid from SAWS’ cash savings and from impact fees assessed to new customers.
These changes are not a done deal. SAWS held a public hearing at its Tuesday morning board meeting, when staff announced the rate proposal. There will be another public hearing at a May 5 meeting, when the board can approve the proposal.
Then San Antonio City Council will weigh in for a final approval in May or June. On Tuesday, SAWS said it wants to implement the rate changes by July 1.
SAWS officials presented other rate adjustments to city council members at a March briefing, but said that lesser levels of investment could result in compliance issues with state regulations and infrastructure failures.
The $3.2 billion capital improvements break down into $1.7 billion for SAWS’ wastewater system, $1.1 billion for its water system and $318 million to build out its water supply.
“We did look at various options, and I do think this one represents the best opportunity to smooth and lessen the bill impact for our customers over this period of time, while still asking them to make this investment,” said SAWS Board Chair Jelynne LeBlanc Jamison.
City council will make final call
The City of San Antonio owns SAWS and will have the ultimate say in the utility’s rates. Council members have scrutinized cost increases this year, recently cautioning CPS Energy and delaying its budget approval for a closer look at rates.
On Tuesday, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, who sits on the SAWS board, said she appreciated the explanations she’d received from utility officials. She urged SAWS to look at recycled water infrastructure, work with CPS Energy and consider long-term plans for meeting growth as residents and large users, like factories and data centers, continue to come to the area.
But Jones signaled support for the rate adjustments.
“We just don’t really have a choice in having to make these investments, given the state of some of this equipment and the necessary investments to keep up with demand,” she said.
