The price of water in HRM could be going up in a very big way.
Halifax Water has filed an application with the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board requesting an increase to rates that, if approved, would see customers hit with a 40 per cent rate increase over the next year.
Halifax Water says the rate increase is needed to do what it calls “vital work” on aging and rapidly deteriorating wastewater and stormwater systems.
“Many of the underground pipes that carry our wastewater and stormwater are over 100 years old and in desperate need of repair,” Halifax Water general manager Carl Yates says in a release, adding the current rate structure won’t fund these steps.
The proposed rate structure would see rates rise by $8.64 a month on Oct. 1 and another $7.60 a month on April 1, 2011.
The Utility and Review Board will hold a hearing on this request June 7 to 9 with a decision expected in September.
