Tahoe water rate hikes before commissioners on Thursday

Converting the county's three Lake Tahoe water companies' customers to meters will account for a large piece of a proposed rate increase.

All of the county's more than 1,000 Tahoe residential water customers are paying a flat rate for their water.

Part of increased rates will pay to convert customers to meters, though that has been delayed a year.

Douglas County commissioners are scheduled to meet 1:30 p.m. Thursday on the rate increases.

Cave Rock's water system customers will pay the highest rate of the three with a proposed increase from $180.82 to $202.46 on Oct. 1. Average rates for Cave Rock residents would increase slightly to $208.83 on July 1, 2011, and then to $291.29 on July 1, 2012.

Zephyr Cove water customers will see a rate increase from an average of $75.79 to $79.95 should commissioners approve their new rates. That rate will go up to $87.29 on July 1, 2011, and then increase to $123.44 a month on July 1, 2012. The largest capital expense for water users that year will be the $1.559 million needed to convert them to water meters.

There are the equivalent of 516 homes on the Zephyr Water Utility District.

Of all the county's water systems, only residents of the Skyland system won't have a rate increase.

They will pay the average flat rate of $114.23 until a new rate increase is proposed for July 1, 2011. That rate will go to $119.94.

Metering will account for the largest portion of the Skyland increases when they are implemented. Skyland is the smallest of the Tahoe water companies with the equivalent of 243 homes.