Our proposed changes to developer charges and fees

We have a historic level of capital projects that must happen during the next five years. Our growing community is one of the main factors driving this need.

On Tuesday, City Council will hear the presentation of the annual budget and a five-year rate case. This will include proposed fees and charges paid by developers to share the cost of growth.

When a new development is constructed, utilities must be in place to serve the new homes and businesses. In some cases, this includes extending our system of pipes and wires into the area of development.

For our electric and natural gas services, the current policy is that developers pay a portion of those related expenses through fees, and we cover the remainder through base rates.

To balance what is paid by developers and customers (through base rates), we are proposing several changes to the fees and charges paid by developers. Here’s a look at those proposals:

Electric and gas line extension fees

We are proposing developers pay 100% of the direct cost for electric and natural gas line extensions. The current policy is that we pay a portion of costs within a development. This would result in fee increases of about $1,600 per lot on average for electric and $900 per lot for natural gas.

• • Other fees include: 100% cost fee for electric and gas mainline extensions, with recovery agreement options on certain extensions. 

• • Addition of congested space fees to recover the additional cost of extending facilities in high density or constricted areas. 

Review and design fees

We already charge fees to review and approve plans and perform certain analysis related to new developments. These review and design fees would increase to better reflect our cost and time to oversee this process. Many of these fees have not been updated since 2007. This includes:

• • Development application

  • Electric and gas design

  • Water and wastewater recovery agreement application and processing

  • Hydraulic analysis

  • Water and wastewater permits

  • Connection and inspection

  • Water tap fees

We are also proposing the addition of new fees for analysis and services currently performed without fees. This includes:

• • The addition of a large load interconnection study fee is proposed for all four services. This means large industrial customers would pay a fee to cover the cost of evaluating the impact of the additional large loads on our systems.   

  • Construction drawing review, wastewater analysis report, annexation application review fee. 

We believe these proposed changes help spread the costs among our customers and developers in a more equitable way, lessening the impact on base rates.