CalWater Drought Response Plan to Become Effective June 1

Cal Water’s Schedule 14.1 filing, which establishes household and business water budgets and associated enforcement measures in order to achieve state-mandated water use reductions necessitated by historic drought conditions, will become effective on June 1, 2015, after a 30-day review by the California Public Utilities Commission. Cal Water is the largest subsidiary of California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT).

“Our customers are being required by the state to achieve some ambitious water use reduction targets, and getting Schedule 14.1 in place was a necessary step. But our goal is to take a customer-first approach, and work hand-in-hand with customers to help them hit the mark,” said Martin A. Kropelnicki, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Cal Water’s Schedule 14.1 filing, which applies to both residential and non-residential customers, is responsive to Governor Brown’s emergency drought declaration and executive order requiring a statewide 25% reduction in urban, potable water use. It also complies with regulations adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board (Board) and the Commission to achieve that reduction by the end of February 2016.

The new regulations adopted by the Board require Cal Water customers throughout California to achieve water-use reductions between 8 and 36 percent as compared to their usage in 2013.

With the approval of the Schedule 14.1 filing, beginning June 1, 2015, individual customers in each Cal Water district will be given water budgets based upon their water use each month in 2013 minus the state-mandated reduction. If a customer uses less than his or her water budget, the unused water will be carried forward, similar to rollover minutes on a cell phone plan.

Water used in excess of the monthly budget will be subject to a drought surcharge. The surcharge will be discounted for customers on Cal Water’s Low-Income Rate Assistance (LIRA) program.

To help with compliance, the customer’s monthly bill will show his or her water budget for the following month. Customers’ water use history back to 2011 and their water budgets will also be available online beginning in June.

Schedule 14.1 also puts measures in place to enable Cal Water to enforce the water-use prohibitions set by the Board. (For a complete list of water uses prohibited by the Board, visit the Prohibited Uses of Water page.)

In the short time since the Governor’s Executive Order, Cal Water has set up a centralized drought call center staffed by specially trained customer service representatives and put additional water conservation and drought experts out in the field to help customers meet their water reduction targets. The utility is also introducing a new turf replacement rebate program in June.

“We are facing what could be the worst drought of our lifetime. We need to work together to get through it,” Kropelnicki said.

For information on all of the conservation rebates available to Cal Water customers, visit the Rebates and Programs page.

You can find all of the latest news and information related to the drought on the Drought Resources page.