AIKEN --- Many Graniteville and Vaucluse residents reacted with shock Friday after receiving new water and sewer bills that some said increased by hundreds of dollars.
The bills reflected a recent rate increase request by Avondale Mills Inc., the company that owns the Graniteville water system, according to Phil Napier, the chief of the Graniteville-Vaucluse-Warrenville Volunteer Fire Department.
The request was made to South Carolina's Public Service Commission, and at the time Avondale officials said the rates hadn't been changed in years and that they were no longer able to subsidize the cost of running the system after the shutdown of textile operations in the community.
Avondale officials had said the rate increase wouldn't be used for upgrades so as not to shock people with the cost.
Chief Napier said he had heard from several people whose bills had dramatically increased, saying one person's water fees had gone from an average of $71 a month to more than $500.
"Why would the Public Service Commission approve a rate increase like that? That is ridiculous," the chief said.
The chief said his home isn't serviced by Avondale's system, but that his mother's and brother's residences are.
His brother, Daryl Napier, said his average bill had been $27.50. As of Friday, it was $341.
The chief and his brother said many residents in the Graniteville area are retired and likely won't be able to afford a much higher bill. The chief said he had heard of one elderly woman who might have to move because she couldn't pay the higher rate.
Graniteville resident Kimberly Gilbreath said she also couldn't believe her bill Friday, which she said normally costs $30 but had increased to $146.
"Today, we get a letter all of a sudden saying here's your new bill, and by the way, it's a 700 percent increase," she said. "This was a shock to everybody."
Chief Napier said although there was one local meeting and one in Columbia on the subject, other meetings on the increase were canceled, "... And people just got to where they ignored them."
He said he was giving residents some advice.
"A lot of people are calling me wanting to know who to call, and I tell them to call the local politicians because the Public Service Commission should not have approved that drastic of a rate increase."
Reach Preston Sparks at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110 or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
As of last night most of my neighbors had bills like this $119,$185,$190 and some living on social security $256. I have contacted Shane Massey via facebook and will contact him and other politicians Monday morning as well as the Public Service Commission in Columbia. I also am not sure it will make a difference but i am dropping a letter by the water company stating that i refuse to pay the bill to they can put some type of meter on my sewer. We are being charged sewer costs based on water usage. So if i use 10 gallons of water and 5 gallons of that is used outside for a garden i am still charged 10 gallons of sewer usage. That means that all neighbors don't pay equal or near equal costs for sewer use. On average after talking to several family members that live in North Augusta they typically have bills that run around $60 a month which include, trash pick up,sewer and water. This is an outrage considering the fact that Graniteville is a much lower income town.Graniteville residents need to refuse to pay the bills what can they do if we all align ourselves together it's time to take a stand against this ridiculous attempt to push residents out!
How much of an idiot do you have to be to approve such a drastic increase? DUH! With the economy in the toilet, people out of work or furloughed and the senior citizens on a fixed income, who do they think are going to be able to pay these exorbitant prices? This is utterly ridiculous if not illegal!
These people have been receiving a subsidy on their water & sewer bills for generations. Now that they are seeing the true cost of treating and providing water & sewage treatment, they are going to have to do what most others have done: fix their leaky toilets, fix their dripping faucets, stop watering their plants and lawns so much, take shorter showers, stop running the water continuously while shaving & brushing teeth, etc. They must learn to stop wasting water.
In response to Little Lamb how do you purpose people do any of that considering the fact that they won't have the money for the food on the table much less fixing anything in their house with these bills?My husband just got furloughed from TTX and he's the only income we have then i come home to that ridiculous bill yesterday. Also are we responsible for generations past? Because they got cheaper bills lets stick it to the residents now for years of under payment. Graniteville company set the bills and Avondale continued it that doesn't mean it legal now to make the bills higher than a house payment!
I am amazed at how many people are using the "poor, poor, pitiful me" argument to get out of paying their bills. I do not have enough money to buy a yacht, so I don't go and buy a yacht. They need to quit wasting water and their bills will go down.
Preston Sparks' article is good as far as it goes. It would be helpful if the Chronicle or if a resident in Vaucluse tells us exactly what the new water rates are. How much for a thousand gallons of water? How much for a thousand gallons of sewage? Then maybe we can make some sense out of these high bills.
it seems that "Millionaire" little lamb thinks that 500 dollars is a fair price for a months worth of water. but if you have been to graniteville you would notice that most people there are poor. I also bet that the $60, $70 and $80 bills of years past were probably a financial strain on some of the residents.
Little lamb assumes that these people are wasting water. Maybe some of them are. but to increase a rate on a utility by that much in one billing period is wrong.
Avondale says it will not be using the extra money on upgrades. What are they going to use it for? Pocket padding i'll bet
If Little Lamb would come for a drive through Graniteville he or she might find that this isn't a country club we aren't water our luxurious green lawns most of us are watering gardens because the economy is so bad. Most of are using the water to try to water fruit trees because the economy is so bad. Don't assume Graniteville residents are sunbathing on their nice green lawns Little Lamb.
I wonder what the Commission got for approving this rate?
kimberly, if the North Augusta bills you quote include trash pick up, then they pay city taxes to North Augusta. Do you pay city taxes to Graniteville? No. Water and sewer customers of the City of Aiken who reside outside the city pay double water rates. It's not unusual to have a water (and fire protection) bill in the amounts quoted above. If I kept my grass watered, my bill would also reach $400 when we don't have rain for weeks.
How much water can you add to Sand anyway?
Exactly noone and that's a fact it's hazmat and Aiken who's been out here checking the sewers and they aren't making plans anytime soon to do upgrades according to avondale water employees they are only figuring the flow directions of all of the sewers. The question i have is who would profit from this increase and where is that money going? This i'm telling you right now as a resident of this town isn't just about the water. There's been an attempt to collect of these properties for cheaper going on for a while now. You can't make a good effort a revitilization if you have one thing left in your way. The residents who control that revitilization so what do you?You make sure that's not an issue as best you can.
On the city of Augusta web site, you can find the water and sewer rates for Augusta. If you use 3,000 gallons or less of water a month, your water and sewer bill is $35.66.
In Augusta, if you use more than 3,000 gallons a month, you pay $42.08 plus $2.01 per thousand gallons over 3,000 for water and $2.17 per thousand gallons for sewage. So to get a $500 water & sewer bill, you would have to use WAY OVER 100,000 gallons of water in a month. I would consider that WASTE.
I dont think the issue is water useage. Once again if you go to graniteville you will notice a lack of green plush lawns. i live in saluda and i pay about $90 a month. if that were doubled it would only be 180. 140 to 500 is about a 350% increase.
As stated in my previous quote watering lawns is graniteville isn't what we all do if fact ourselves and all our neighbors have discussed this at the beginning of summer we weren't going to waste and ounce of our money on water lawns because the economy is so bad.
It seems avondale should use some of the money to fix the meters. if little lambs calculations are correct then graniteville should be a swamp by now. 100,000 gallons!! Really! must be alot of hidden Pools in graniteville that get filled monthly
Maybe that guy whose water bill went from $71 to $500 needs to back off a little on watering his fruit trees.
Ok little lamb graniteville residents 4.50 per 1000 gallons of water and 6.50 per 1000 gallons of sewage now if you use 10 gallons of water you still pay the sewage even if you use 5 of those gallons on your lawn and you never touch the sewer.
Thank you for posting the new water & sewer rates, Kimberly. The new rates in Graniteville are higher than in Augusta. So the person with the $500 water bill used only 45,000 gallons last month. His toilet flapper valves may be leaking.
Unless the reading is for three months because workers at avondale have stepped on his property in that long....
Bottom line is this i have no problem paying for my water usage if i know that my meter has been read monthly. If i physically see someone come out and read it. I do have a problem paying for a sewer system that isn't being updated and instead of doing what's been promised they are pocketing the money. I would like to see that everyone has a meter of some sort used or a base figure we all pay that is equal on sewer usage. We are paying equal to water usage now and there is no fairness in that. This isn't about getting out of paying for something this is about the fact that they went behind residents back and did this then gave no notice and piled on a bill that they know no one was warned was coming.
once again usage is not the issue. the dramatic increase in rates is
If you are a Graniteville Resident i do encourage you to as best you can try to keep a calculation on what you are using to make sure you aren't being overcharged as well. My husband and myself have started a tally on a paper that keeps us up to date on how many loads of laundry we did for the month. We are keeping a tally of how many gallons of water was used bathing as best we can. We aren't using any outside water. We never use water for drinking in our home because the graniteville water system is so outdated so we buy our drinking water from the store. Just try as best you can to see exactly how much you do use because i wouldn't just trust your meter in graniteville. I sure don't have a luxurious yard from the garden of eden that i'm watering and a daily bath and washing a load of laundry a week isn't running the bill up so i'd make sure you are keeping up with it as best you can.
you're right noone it's an increase that any other city would be fighting mad over to and if it were others such as little lamb i'm sure this wouldn't be an argument.
Kimberly said the billing rate was $4.50 per 1000 gallons of water and $6.50 per 1000 gallons of sewage and that they are charged for sewage for every gallon of water that they use. THAT would be $11.00 per 1000 gallons of water that flows through the meter. That means someone is getting ripped off.
Why do you think I need a calculator? $11 per 1,000 times 45 thousand is $495. That means the guy who got the $500 bill used 45,000 gallons of water. That's what I said in my 11:38 post this morning.
Do you know anyone who uses 45000 gallons of water in a month Little Lamb?