Capacity Fees
The Laurens County Water and Sewer Commission Adopts Updated Capacity Fees
Released December 14, 2021
The Laurens County Water & Sewer Commission (LCWSC) continues to take proactive steps that will allow us to meet the needs of our community both today and tomorrow. These steps include a newly complete state of the art Water Treatment Facility on Lake Greenwood as well as an updated 20-Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to allow for effective natural resource management and prepare for needed capital projects. To review LCWSC 20-year Capital Improvements Plan please click here.
While LCWSC will continue to apply for federal and state grants for construction projects, we also recognize that eventually this source of funding will become less and less available. Therefore, the LCWSC must rely on other funding sources such as capacity fees, similar to what the LCWSC and other utility systems in South Carolina already do to fund capital projects.
The theory behind capacity fees, since they are only charged to new customers, is to allow growth to pay for growth-related projects. Undoubtedly, current system improvements must be made before substantial facility and services growth can occur. For this reason, these projects are funded with bond issues (loans) that are partially paid through existing rate payers and partially funded through new capacity fees. The more capacity fee funds collected from new customers, the lower future rate increase will need to be.
Water and wastewater capacity fees are driven by LCWSC 20-year Capital Improvements Plan and meter size. The LCWSC and its rate consultant, using industry approved methodology, recently updated each fee based upon proportional usage from every user group. Fees increase in proportion to tap size from ¾” up to 4” lines; LCWSC will determine fees on a case-by-case basis for new customers with 6” lines or larger.
- Capacity fees applies only to new customers who tap into the LCWSC system. These revised Fees are effective after January 1, 2021.
- Most Residential Customers require a ¾ inch tap.
- LCWSC customers not connected to public wastewater system will only be assessed the water treatment and water distribution capacity fee.
- LCWSC wastewater customers not served by the Bush River Regional WWTP will not be assessed the wastewater treatment component of the wastewater capacity fee. They could be charged a wastewater treatment capacity fee by a neighboring sewer treatment provider.