Figuring Out Your Lafayette Water Bill Can Feel Murky, How Bills Are Calculated

How does LUS calculate your water usage and in turn, your water bill? How does the utility company calculate your wastewater?

It can seem murky, but it is all spelled out, but who has time to look at that?

Why not check it out? Most of us just want to turn the faucet on, and we want the water to come out. We know we have to pay for it, but we may not exactly remember how it all gets calculated.

While it's not murky, perse, it can seem a bit complicated because who has time to sit down and think about how the water and wastewater usage is calculated based on a tier system? No one.

CLICK HERE FOR A PDF LUS PROVIDES ABOUT HOW TO READ YOUR BILL

There are two tiers, but to begin with, the months are separated into "winter" and then all of the other months.

Winter months, for the LUS calculations, are

• December
• January
• February
• March

They label the rest as summer months

• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November

Then the tiers come into play. This is where you likely will have to reread each of these a few times to make sure you are reading it correctly. Here is the actual text for tier 1:

Tier 1 – The monthly charge for this tier will be computed on the average water usage for the four preceding winter months of December, January, February and March, or for such portion of the winter months as may have been metered, or at actual consumption, whichever is the lesser. If, during the months of December, January, February and March, severe weather or unusual conditions result in abnormal fluctuations in water consumption for a customer, then a reasonable method of averaging water usage as mentioned in this section may be determined by the director. The commodity rate for this Summer Tier 1 is $1.95 per 1,000 gallons.

 

Whoa, that's plenty of information to digest and process. Then here is how tier 2's text is:

Tier 2 – The monthly charge for this tier will be computed on the actual water usage in excess of the average water usage for the four preceding winter months of December, January, February and March used for calculating the Tier 1 charges. The commodity rate for this Summer Tier 2 is $3.09per 1,000 gallons.

And that's not all they charge. They also charge you a monthly fee based on the size of your meter. You can click here for that chart.

When it comes to wastewater at your home, you are charged $6.90 per 1,000 gallons of water used and you are charged $10.31 a month for wastewater service.

And there is a tier system:

(1) For the months of December, January, February and March, the monthly charge for residential wastewater services will be computed on the actual water used for these months.

 

 

(2) The monthly charge for residential wastewater services in the months of April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November will be computed on the average water usage for the four (4) preceding winter months of December, January, February and March, or for such portion of said winter months as may have been metered, or at actual consumption, whichever is the lesser. However, in no case shall the usage be less than seventy-five percent (75%) of actual water consumption for the use month. If during the months of December, January, February, and March severe weather or unusual conditions result in abnormal fluctuations in water consumption for a customer or customers, then a reasonable method of averaging water usage mentioned above will be determined by the director or his designee.

Wow! That's so much information to digest. There is a one-minute video if you decide you would like to check your water usage online.

If you need help, you can call LUS customer service at (337) 291-8280.