Utilities Department

The rates are as follows:

Service Charge - $7.25
Water Charge - $2.58 for every 1000 gallons (imperial measurement)
$0 .57 for every cubic meter ( metric measurement)
Sewer Charge - 94% of the water charge
$ 0.54 for every cubic meter
· every household is metered and consumption is an actual reading every other month with the rest being estimations. Actual readings will adjust for estimations that are too high or low.

Refuse - $6.49 for residential pickup/month
Landfill - $4.24 – residential
$4.24 – mobile home parks/per mobile home
$4.00 – apartment buildings/per unit
$13.38 – commercial/industrial
$23.25 – restaurants/Motels/Hotels
$33.10 – large retailers/industrial
$8.10 – churches
$13.38 – institutional

Keylock water rates are $30.75 for the first 3080 gallons used and an additional $14.18 for every 1000 gallons thereafter.

All households are individually billed and because of actual readings every bill is different. Just to give an idea of what the bills are like, the absolute lowest monthly residential bill is $17.98. This is with no water used. If 14m3 is used, which is typical for a couple or small family, the bill would be $33.52. For a large family that uses 55 m3, let's say, the bill would be $79.03. These are just examples, many people will pay more even if they are not a large family if they do not conserve water in any way.

When you first move into a home where you have to pay your own
Town of Whitecourt Utilities, here is what you need to do. Phone the Town Office at 778-2273 or come down to see us.
We will need your names, phone numbers for home and work, mailing address, move in date, and whether you are renting or own the home. The Town will read your water meter on your move in date and billing begins from that point.

Deposit:
You have 10 days from your move in date to pay your utility deposit, which will be refunded to you when you move out of the home. While the Town holds your deposit, you will receive the current bank rate of interest, which is then applied to your December water bill. Deposit rates are $50 for home owners and $100 for renters. A $150 deposit is required for businesses with a 2 inch water meter.

Moving Out:
Please let us know in advance when you are moving out so we can schedule staff to take a final reading on your meter on your last day in your house. A forwarding address will be needed so we can send you your final bill or a cheque if your deposit is larger than your final charges.

Points of Interest regarding Refuse

map · The Town of Whitecourt collects the money for the refuse, but Northwest Sanitation collects the garbage. There is a two bag limit, or two small cans, or one large can limit. If you have additional garbage, tags can be purchased at the Town Office for $2.00 each.
· Pickup days are Tuesday mornings for the hilltop, Wednesday mornings for the downtown, and Thursday mornings for Mobile Home Parks.
· Recycling is encouraged. To help you in your recycling efforts, Northwest Sanitation has a 24 hour drop off facility at 4216-42 Street.
· Instead of purchasing extra garbage tags any excess household garbage, compost material, some recycling (paper, cardboard, tin, and milk cartons) can also be taken to the Town of Whitecourt Transfer Station located ½ km east of 35 St. on 41 Ave. The Transfer Station is open Thursday through Monday, from 11 - 6 daily, except for statutory holidays.
· Larger items or bigger loads can be taken directly to the Town of Whitecourt Landfill located 17 kms East on Highway 43 then South 2 Kms. Watch for the highway signs.
· If you need more information regarding any garbage or recycling issues you can call the Landfill at 648-2273.
· Extra info needed on recycling try www.obviously.com/recycle
· Extra info needed on composting try www.compost.org/AboutComposting.htm

Points of Interest regarding Utility Payments

· Payments are required on your utility bill once every month. If the total bill is not paid a 3.5% penalty is applied 30 days after due date.
· We accept Interac, Visa, and Mastercard.
· We also accept and encourage bank payments, internet payments, and telebank payments, as well as our own pre-authorized payment plan.
· For the pre-authorized payment plan you need to come to our office with a void cheque and fill out a form. You will still receive a monthly bill, but it will indicate that the payment is going to be made directly from your bank account on the 7th of each month.
· Late payments will result in an arrears letter which is a reminder that your account is now in arrears. 10 days after this letter has been mailed your water service may be disconnected if the account is not paid at our main Office. If the water is disconnected there is an automatic $40.00 reconnection fee.
· N.S.F. payments are charged an additional $10.00 at our office, unless it is on the pre-authorized payment plan, and then it is $13.00.

Points of Interest regarding Water Conservation

Water is a natural resource and conservation is an environmental must, not to mention that you pay for any water that goes through your meter, regardless of how it is used. Here are just a few tips to help you conserve water.

· Purchase a low flow shower head and a low volume toilet (or put a large plastic bottle in the back of your toilet tank) A shower head like this can save $60.00/year for a 10 minute daily shower. A toilet with a 6.0 litre unit can save a family of 4 $131.00/year.
· Repair any dripping faucets. Fixing a one drip per second faucet saves $10.00/year. Larger leaks such as a 1/16" trickle uses 7000gallons/month, resulting in a charge of $35.31 for water and sewer a month. A ¼" trickle will use $161.45 of water and sewer a month.
· Wash only full loads of clothes or dishes.
· Don’t water the lawn too often or too long.
· In hot weather, let the grass longer and it will not dry up as fast.
· Do not water lawn in heat of day.

Points of Interest on Checking for Toilet Leaks

If a toilet is leaking your Utility bill will most certainly reflect it. It can be very costly if not looked after immediately. Sometimes you may hear the toilet running but quite often it will go unnoticed. Some tips on checking for a leak:
· If you hear the tank refill every 15 minutes or so you may have a problem with the flush valve seat. To check, add several drops of dark food coloring to the tank. If there is a leak the coloured water will seep through the seal and into the toilet bowl. Aha! Your toilet is draining the tank constantly, and wasting much water. Fortunately you can buy a replacement valve.
· If the toilet you just flushed is refilling and won’t stop, you have a running toilet and an expensive one at that. Chances are the stopper is not sitting square on the flush valve seat. The chain or lift wire is probably caught underneath the stopper. Fix it by jiggling the handle, or pulling the chain out from the stopper. You may eventually have to shorten the chain, fiddle with the lift wire, or replace your stopper.

I moved into a new home and there is water already, does that mean it is free?

No, not much comes free anymore. The Town of Whitecourt leaves the water on from one home owner to the next. It is your responsibility to phone us or come down to see us and open up an account. Remember, we will need your mailing address, correct street address, home and work phone numbers, a void cheque if you would like to go on the pre-authorized payment plan, and of course money (if you want to pay the deposit before your 10 day grace period is up).

Do I still have to pay the deposit even though I have had previous accounts in Whitecourt?

Yes, unfortunately you do. We do not take reference letters or good history in regards to paying the deposit. A Town of Whitecourt Bylaw states that each Utility customer requires a deposit on their account. Even if you own several places, each one requires a deposit. The deposit is $50 if you own the home and $100 if you rent.

I heard that since water is a necessity the Town of Whitecourt cannot legally cut it off on me, is that true? What is your policy?

Well, you have received some incorrect information. The Town of Whitecourt has a bylaw in effect that allows water to be disconnected if payment is not received. There is quite a lot of time allotted to pay so there is never a need for it to go to this extreme. For example, charges billed for the month of June are sent out in mid July and are due August 7. An arrears letter will be sent out on September 20 or so, giving 10 days to pay or be disconnected. Needless to say disconnection at the end of September or early October is definitely not uncalled for since the water used was back in June. Don’t ignore your bills because not only will it be penalized 3.5% but a $40.00 reconnection fee will also be applied if it is disconnected. At this point we will take only cash at the office to get the water back on.

Why does my bill have a service charge, what’s with that?

The Town of Whitecourt needs to recover certain costs to cover the expenses of operating the Water Treatment Plant and providing services to our residents. The service charge of $7.25 for each water bill came into effect on June 1st, 2001.

My sewer charges this month were almost double than last month, how can that be? I watered the lawn quite a bit but it never went down the sewer.

Sewer is calculated at 94% of your water consumption charges. If you used more water your sewer automatically goes up higher. This is most often noticed by customers in the summer when their water consumption goes up. Try your best to conserve water to save yourself some money.

On my bill I noticed some months it has a letter E and sometimes a letter A beside the consumption amounts, what is that?

Good question. Every other month we estimate your water consumption, which will show an E on your bill. The Town of Whitecourt has grown too large to read every meter every month as we did in the past. Now we read the hilltop meters one month and the downtown meters the next month. The meters that aren’t read are automatically given an estimated consumption based on all their previous months history of consumption. The actual readings show an A on your bill.

If it is a computer estimation, how do I know I am not paying more than what I actually used?

It is true, you may pay more than what you used on an estimated month. But don’t worry - the next month will be an actual reading and you will then have a really low bill if you were charged too much the month before. If the actual reading comes in lower than what you were charged the previous month you will get a credit on your actual bill. So all in all it works out and we have had a good response to this system since we started it in 2001. Reading the meters every other month also helps to lower the operating costs for the utility department.

I notice on my bill that I am being charged refuse charges of $6.49. My husband always takes our garbage to his business so I don’t want to pay this charge - can I get it off?

No, actually you can not. Northwest Sanitation is a private company that picks up the garbage in town. They have a contract with us and charge the Town of Whitecourt for every residential place in town. We then bill each household to recover this cost. It is a service that is supplied so we recommend you save your husband the hassle and set out your garbage for the garbage man.

I set out my garbage and the garbage truck only took some and left the rest, how come?

We have a two bag limit in effect so chances are you had too much out. If you have extra garbage, come down to our office and get a $2.00 tag for your extra bag or can for pick up on the next garbage day. Hint - you are allowed two full 77 litre bags or cans so make sure they are real full before you go to a third bag or can. You can also use one large can and stuff it full. This is in effect to promote recycling and composting. In the past people would bag their lawn clippings and have it taken to the landfill. Now it saves the life of the landfill and creates compost by people composting themselves or taking compost to the transfer station community compost.

What can I recycle and where do I go?

Recycling helps you save money on garbage and also helps the Town cut costs as well. So we are happy to hear you are recycling and Northwest Sanitation has a community depot at 4216 – 42 Street. They take all papers, cardboards, metal cans, plastic milk, water and juice jugs. For more detailed information, their phone number is 778-4888. The drop off is open 24 hours. The Town Transfer Station also accepts recycling, in the form of paper, cardboard, cans, milk cartons, and grass clippings. They are open 11:00 am – 6:00 pm Thursday to Monday. They are closed Tuesday, Wednesday, and Stat holidays.

I live on Park Drive. When is my garbage picked up, and where do I put it?

All of the hilltop residents are picked up Tuesday mornings. Downtown is Wednesday and Mobile Home Parks are Thursday. As for where it is picked up, if you have a back alley it will be there, if not, on your lawn by the street. If in doubt check what your neighbours are doing and follow the leader.

I am moving from my house on the hill to a house downtown on July 10th, how does my final bill work?

We will take a reading on the 10th on both your old and new places. That way you will be charged only for water you have used. Your deposit will be transferred to your new account as well as your final charges on your house on the hill. You will still get both bills in August, but one will just show what was transferred to the downtown house.

I rented and now I own my home, can I get some of my deposit back?

Yes, the renter's deposit is $100.00 and the owner's is $50.00, so we do refund you the difference once you are an owner.

I need bulk water. Do you have a place where I can buy bulk?

Yes, we have keylock water. You must open an account with us and pay a $100 deposit to get one key. Additional keys are $20 each. The keylocks are open 24 hours a day and you will be billed every month for the water used. The rates are $30.75 for the first 3080 gallons, even if you don’t use any. If you use more, it is $14.18 for every 1000 gallons thereafter.