Cheyenne Water Rates Expected To Rise This Year As Costs Climb

It hasn't been finalized yet, but the Director of the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities says it looks like the board will be asking for a five percent increase in residential water rates later this year.

Water users should also expect continuing increases over the next few years to help meet the cost of service.

A request for a three percent base fee increase this year may also be proposed. Base fees are charged to maintain infrastructure and are not based on water consumption.

Commercial And Industrial Users Face Bigger Increases

Brad Brooks says the commercial users can expect bigger increases as much as 10 percent or more in some cases. Those increases are needed to bring revenues in line with the cost of serving industrial and commercial water users.

The BOPU will send it's proposed water rate increases to the Cheyenne City Council. If the council signs off on the increases, they would take effect in October.

Brooks made the comments on Thursday in an interview for the ''Weekend in Wyoming" program. That interview, which also includes discussion of the potential impacts of low snow packs on the Cheyenne water supply as well as the long-term future of Cheyenne water, will air at 12:05 p.m. on Saturday on KGAB radio, a.m. 650.

Brooks says communities across the region are significant water rate increases. He pointed to Casper as one example. Water rates in Casper increase by 8 percent on January 1, with another 8 percent increase slated for Jan. 1 2027.

Brooks says the possible five percent increase is part of a budget that the agency is currently working on.

Brooks says the agency bases it's rates on cost of living indexes as well as several engineering indexes. He says those indexes are showing an average increase of about 4 percent. Brooks says a cost of service index shows residential water fees should  increase by about 9 percent. Brooks says "We're trying to be sensitive to that and get people where they need to be over time rather than one big jump." He goes on to say that ''We always try to keep rates as low and affordable as we can."

By the way, Brooks says data centers are not using as much water as many people believe. He says data centers in Cheyenne only account for around 1.5 to 1.6 percent of local water consumption, adding that newer technology means the centers don't use as much water as once was the case.