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BILLING INFORMATION
   
Updated: 5/01/08
Sewer and Water Customer Billing Information

The District bills its customers for sewer and water services on a calendar quarter basis.  Bills are mailed out on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 of each year.  The service charges for sewer and water are calculated from water meter readings which the District collects for each billable property.  Most of the water meters are connected to the phone system and call in to a computer at the District office on a weekly basis.  Meters without phone service are read manually once a quarter for billing purposes.

 
Sewer and Water User Charges
WASTEWATER CHARGES
Type of Rate

Monthly
Charge

Quarterly Charge

•   Base Rate

$ 22.04

$66.12 qtr

•   Variable Rate charged for every 1,000 gallons of water use.  (2nd & 3rd quarter sewer charges based on winter average use for the period Oct. 1 - March 30 from the preceding year.)

Per 1,000 gallons add
  $ 3.85

 
WATER CHARGES
Type of Rate

Monthly
Charge

Quarterly Charge

•   Base Rate

$ 14.25

$ 42.75

•   Variable Rate charged for every 1,000 gallons of water use. (Charges calculated on actual use per quarter.)

Per 1,000 gallons add
$ 2.35

 
VACANT LOT CHARGES
Type of Rate

Monthly
Charge

Quarterly Charge

•   Sewer Vacant Lot

$ 7.50

$ 22.50

•   Water Vacant Lot

$ 7.50

$ 22.50


 Click link for complete list of rates and charges > Rates&Charges.pdf
 
Automated Bank Draft Billing Available

To get your account set up on the bank draft system click the link below for the required form. Complete the form and send it to BSWSD, P.O. Box 160670, Big Sky, MT 59716 with a voided check from the account that charges should be drafted. If you have any questions please call Terry at 406-995-2660, or email him at wsdbills@3rivers.net

Click link for Bank Draft Authorization Form to get started > 
Bank Draft Authorization Form.pdf

 
Late Payments & Penalties

The District provides at least a 45 day period in which customer payments are considered current.  After the 45 day period, customer accounts are considered late and are subject to the District's late fee policy. The District currently charges a 10% late charge on the outstanding balance once the account is past due.  Late charges are posted prior to late notice mailing and then again just prior to billing the next quarterly water and sewer charges.  If you have any questions call Terry at 406-995-2660, or email him at wsdbills@3rivers.net
 

 
Reading Your Sewer & Water Bill

Your quarterly sewer and water statement includes information about the water that you used for the billing period.  Box 1 contains the meter reading information that is the basis of the charges shown on the bill.  Box 2 shows the billing period.  Box 3 lists the calculated usages for sewer and water volumes.  The District uses winter averaging to calculate sewer charges during the summer months.  The reason for this is that most of the water used during the summer is for irrigation and outside watering.  This water never reaches the sewer system.  To adjust for this fact, summer sewer bills are calculated using the average water used from October 1st to March 30th; the preceding 4th and 1st quarter meter readings.

Box 1. Lists your usage history for the current billing quarter and the previous 3 billings quarters. You can calculate your average daily usage by dividing these quarterly use figures by 90.

Box 2. Shows the meter reading information which is used to calculate your water and sewer bill. The previous reading is subtracted from the current reading to get the total usage.

Box 3. Shows the beginning and ending date for the service period. In this example, the From date is 07/01 and the To date is 09/30 which is the 3rd quarter.

Box 4. Lists the usage figures that are used to calculate your quarterly water and sewer variable charges. In the example, the light blue number (39,200) is the actual water usage as noted in Box 2. The variable water charge is calculated by taking this number divided by 1,000 and multiplying by $2.35.

The yellow number (12,700) which is used to calculate the variable sewer charge is from the winter average usage for the period October 1st through March 31st, the 4th and 1st quarters. In this example the usage from the Box 1 for the previous 4th and 1st quarters was 12,600 and 12,800 gallons respectively. The winter average that is used for the sewer bill is the average of these 2 quarters, or 12,600 + 12,800 divided by 2 which equals 12,700 gallons.

For bills that are mailed out at the end of the 4th and 1st quarters of each year, the variable sewer charge is calculated based on actual meter readings. The bills for the 2nd and 3rd quarter used the winter averaging shown in the example. ¨

Example Calculations

The spreadsheet below shows how to estimate your water and sewer bill from your meter readings:
 

 

                 
A 5140.0 < Enter 1st Reading   C 9/25/2005 < Enter 1st Date as MM/DD/YY
                   
B 7580.0 < Enter 2nd Reading D 10/27/2005 < Enter 2nd Date as MM/DD/YY
                   
                   
B-A      2,440 = Total Gallons            
                   
D-C           32 = Total Days           76 = Average Gallons per Day (2,440 / 32)
                   
 Water Bill Estimate              
  [(Avg Gals/Day x 30 days) / 1,000 gals x $2.35]        
   $    5.38 + $14.25 Base Charge = $19.63 < Est. Total Water Bill/Month
 Sewer Bill Estimate              
  [(Avg Gals/Day x 30 days) / 1,000 gals x $3.85]        
   $    8.81 + $22.04 Base Charge = $30.85 < Est. Total Sewer Bill/Month
                   
            $50.47 < EST. TOTAL MONTHLY BILL
                   
            $151.42 < EST. TOTAL QUARTERLY BILL
                   


The spreadsheet below shows the monthly water and sewer rates for a range of daily water usage from 50 gallons per day up to 1,500 gallons per day.
 
Water Rates                  
  Base Rate =   $       14.25   per month flat rate          

 Variable Rate =

 $         2.35   per 1,000 gallons of water used        
                     
                     
Volume of Water Used   Water Rates Per Month   Water Rates Per Quarter
        Variable Rate Base Rate Total Monthly   Variable Rate Base Rate Total Qtrly
Per Day Per Month Per Quarter   Per Month Per Month Water Bill   Per Quarter Per Quarter Water Bill
50          1,500           4,500    $         3.53  $   14.25  $        17.78    $          10.58  $     42.75  $    53.33
100          3,000           9,000    $         7.05  $   14.25  $        21.30    $          21.15  $     42.75  $    63.90