Anchorage water utility seeking 5% increase in rates for 2025

Anchorage’s water utility is asking elected officials for permission to raise rates within the municipality for the coming year.

Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility is in charge of the systems delivering water and removing sewage to homes and businesses across the city, except those households that run their own well and septic systems.

The utility’s proposal would increase the price for water services by 5.13% beginning in February of 2025. Before going into effect, however, the changes would first need to be approved by the Anchorage Assembly, and then the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, which oversees public utilities.

“The primary factors driving these proposed rate increases are operation and maintenance expenses, including but not limited to, increased costs of chemicals, labor, utilities, services, Municipal Utilities Service Assessment, and depreciation expense,” said a Monday written statement from AWWU laying out the proposal.

According to cost tables from the utility, for a typical single-family residential customer with a monthly water bill of $117.15, the rate increase would translate to $6 more a month, or $72 more per year.

Documents filed with the Assembly lay out the cost impacts for other residential and commercial customers. For water-intensive businesses like laundromats and bakeries, the 5% increase would mean around $64 more a month in utility costs, or $768 annually.

The Assembly will hear public testimony on the rate increase at its Dec. 3 meeting before voting on it.