Major industrial water users should not get a “steep, regressive” discount — the more water they use, the less expensive it is — from Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW), an advocacy group says and is calling for reform.
Protect Our Aquifer (POA) planned to deliver a petition to MLGW Wednesday with more than 1,000 signatures calling for an end of the discounts. The utility is expected to present its budget for next year in October. That budget will include how much customers pay for water — residential, commercial, industrial, and more.
“We need smart water management and a rate structure that reflects the value of the resource.”
Sarah Houston, executive director of Protect Our Aquifer
The petition explains the situation like this:
“Residential water customers pay a flat rate regardless of usage, while commercial customers benefit from a regressive rate structure. The more water they pump — the less they pay.”
This offers no incentive for these large water user to consider or invest in water efficiency, conservation, or reuse, the group said.
“Memphis has an extraordinary public water source, but protecting it requires more than infrastructure investment,” said Sarah Houston, executive director of POA. “We need smart water management and a rate structure that reflects the value of the resource.”
A new rate structure from Jackson, Mississippi’s JXN Water in 2024, pushed prices higher for more water usage. For example, the cost to 748 gallons (or one hundred cubic feet or CCF) is $7.48. If a customers pulls 74,800 gallons, that water costs $14.96 per every 748 gallons, nearly double.
POA pointed to this new structure as a potential model. It said JXN Water’s new rate structure Avan offers a lower-cost rate for households qualified to receive food assistance through the federal Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).
“We recognize that MLGW has significant infrastructure needs and that maintaining a reliable water system requires investment,” Houston said. “But this is an opportunity to ask a bigger question: How do we build a water rate structure that raises the revenue we need, encourages conservation, protects our drinking water, and treats ratepayers fairly?”
