San Diego council approves flat $11.09 water rate 6-2; low users pay more starting Jan. 1

Single-family San Diego homes that use little water will pay about $5.62 more a month starting Jan. 1 after the City Council voted 6-2 on Oct. 27 to replace tiered water prices with a single flat rate. The heaviest residential users will pay less.

The new structure charges every customer class the same $11.09 per hundred cubic feet of water, or HCF. One HCF is 748 gallons. It replaces a three-tier ladder for single-family homes that would have run from $9.75 to $13.62 per HCF in 2027. The city says the change is required by the court ruling in Patz v. City of San Diego, which found its tiered rates violated Proposition 218.

Councilmembers Joe LaCava, Jennifer Campbell, Stephen Whitburn, Raul Campillo, Vivian Moreno and Sean Elo-Rivera voted yes. Henry Foster III and Kent Lee voted no. Marni von Wilpert was recorded as not present for the vote, according to the city clerk's results summary. Elo-Rivera made the motion and LaCava seconded it.

The council adopted two resolutions: one finding the rate change exempt from environmental review and one approving the new rates. The motion added direction for the Public Utilities Department to work with the Independent Budget Analyst to update and expand the city's water customer assistance programs, identify money to pay for them, including eligible non-rate department revenue, and return to the Environment Committee with a framework and funding plan.

According to the department's Oct. 27 presentation, a low-use single-family customer will pay $5.62 more a month, up 7.1%. An average single-family customer will pay $7.82 more, up 5.9%. A high-use single-family customer will save $19.52 a month, a 5.9% cut. An apartment property of about 10 units will save $15.17 a month, one with 250 or more units will save $353.52, and an irrigation customer will save $48.

The presentation does not say how much water each example customer uses. By Newsline's calculation from the published rates, a single-family home comes out ahead only if it uses more than about 14 HCF a month, roughly 10,700 gallons.

Those changes are measured against 2027 rates that already include the 14.5% increase the council approved in October 2025. That increase still takes effect Jan. 1, along with the new flat rate. City staff said the restructuring collects the same total revenue as the old tiers.

The Patz class action was filed in 2015 on behalf of single-family customers. A San Diego Superior Court judge ruled in 2021 that the city had not shown its tiers matched the cost of serving each home. The 4th District Court of Appeal affirmed in July 2025. The council approved a $40 million settlement in August, to be paid from the ratepayer-supported Water Fund. Class members have until Nov. 12 to opt out or object, and a judge must still give final approval.

A city staff report says replenishing the water fund after the payout raises the utility's revenue needs by about $40 million, a cost "not included in this action but will be considered in future cost of service studies."

City officials have said they had no choice on the structure. "The City must adopt a new rate structure that complies with the court's ruling," the staff report says. Responding to ratepayers who objected that flat pricing undercuts conservation, the department wrote that conservation-based rates "are not allowed under California law if the rates exceed the proportional cost of service."

The vote was first scheduled for Oct. 6. With two members absent that day, the council rejected 27 written legal objections on a 5-1 vote and continued the rate decision to Oct. 27.

The city did not receive written protests from a majority of affected parcels, which would have blocked the rates, according to the resolution.