Complaints pour in over planned East Bay water rate hike

Water levels at the Pardee Lake reach up to the dam in Ione, California, on Thursday December 1, 2016.Pardee Lake is owned by the East Bay Municipal Utility District. Water levels at the Pardee Lake reach up to the dam in Ione, California, on Thursday December 1, 2016.Pardee Lake is owned by the East Bay Municipal Utility District. Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close Complaints pour in over planned East Bay water rate hike 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

A plan to raise East Bay water rates by nearly 20 percent partly to make up for all the lost revenue from customers who were responsible during the drought was facing a deluge of outrage Monday.

“They’re sticking their inability to get things right onto the backs of scrupulous water savers,” said Oakland hills resident Pat McBride.

At its regular board meeting Tuesday, East Bay Municipal Utility District directors are expected to approve a 19 percent price hike over the next two years. The district says it has been taking in less revenue because customers have been using less water, but that its infrastructure costs — particularly the ongoing need to replace aging pipes — remain constant no matter how much water is used.

“We are not a profit-making organization,” said EBMUD spokeswoman Jenesse Miller. “Our rates cover our budget costs.”

In the 331-square-mile system that serves 1.4 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, water rates have nearly doubled over the past 10 years. Those increases took effect even though water usage went down 30 percent after customers got the message to conserve, Miller said.

That conservation message took particular hold when the utility, at the height of the drought, released a “shame” list of heavy water users whose yards looked like gardens of Eden and became the subject of news photographs.

Water user McBride said she did her part, slashing her water usage by such tactics as pulling out backyard almond, apple, lemon and orange trees and taking lickety-split showers.

“And no running water when we brush our teeth,” she said.

Her reward, she said, will be an increase of about $40 on her bimonthly water bill.

McBride said that on weekend bike rides, she sees rivers of wasted water rushing down the streets of affluent East Bay neighborhoods that she will be asked to help pay for, beginning next week. If the board passes the proposed increases, bills will go up 9.25 percent effective Wednesday and another 9 percent in July 2018. With interest compounding, the overall increase is 19 percent.

Another longtime Berkeley resident, who declined to give her name, said she understands the utility’s dilemma but that “it still doesn’t feel fair” — especially after she stopped watering her lawn and her flower bed some years ago.

“We understand people are frustrated,” Miller said. “It’s an irony of the drought. We had amazing cooperation from our customers.”

Typical EBMUD users cut their daily usage from 250 gallons a day to 200 gallons a day because of the drought, Miller said. The average user’s bill will go up a total of $9 a month over current rates after the second price hike next summer.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com