Queen Creek targets peak users in utility-rate reset

Queen Creek Utilities, Arizona · Meeting date: October 21, 2026 · Published: October 22, 2026

Queen Creek’s proposed water-delivery tariff would trim the bill for a household using 10,000 gallons a month by $3.36, partly offsetting the proposed water-resource fee. The rate study would place higher charges on landscape irrigation and temporary construction meters, whose demand profiles require more delivery-system capacity.

Key points

A proposed $3.07 per 1,000 gallons water-resource fee would add $30.70 a month at 10,000 gallons without a wastewater credit, or $18.42 for a residential combined water-and-wastewater account.
Under the proposed delivery-rate redesign, the 10,000-gallon single-family water-delivery bill would fall from $39.44 to $36.08 per month.
Landscape irrigation would be charged at the highest residential volumetric tier, while construction-meter rates would increase to reflect concentrated peak demand.
No wastewater-rate change was proposed for single-family customers; multifamily and commercial fixed charges would be restructured.
Council unanimously approved a $220,046 change order and budget for wastewater facilities serving the Municipal Services Building and Fire Administration Building.

Full report

Queen Creek is seeking to rebalance the cost of running its water-delivery system towards the customers that create its sharpest demand peaks, while using modest reductions in standard residential delivery charges to cushion the effect of a separate proposed water-resource fee.

The Town Council reviewed a rate-study proposal that would retain the existing three-tier residential water structure but slightly reduce the volumetric prices in the lower tiers. For a single-family customer using 10,000 gallons per month, the water-delivery bill would fall from $39.44 to $36.08, a $3.36 monthly reduction. The fixed charge for the most common three-quarter-inch residential meter would remain unchanged.

That reduction is significant because it would partly offset a proposed water-resource fee of $3.07 per 1,000 gallons in its first year. At 10,000 gallons, the resource fee would be $30.70 per month for a customer without a credit. For a residential customer receiving the wastewater credit, the estimated monthly impact would be $18.42. Combining the delivery-rate change and the resource fee, staff presented a net monthly increase of about $15 for a typical customer with both water and wastewater service using 10,000 gallons.

The proposed tariff changes are based on a cost-of-service analysis that assigns delivery-system costs according to customers’ contribution to total demand, maximum-day demand and peak-hour demand. The consultant said Queen Creek’s system must be built to meet all of those demand conditions.

The largest shifts would fall on separate landscape irrigation meters and temporary construction meters. Landscape irrigation would no longer receive lower-tier water prices and instead would be charged at the highest residential volumetric rate. Construction-meter charges would also be updated. Both customer groups have concentrated demand patterns that require more system capacity, the consultant said.

Multifamily and commercial water customers would see revised fixed charges and, in the consultant’s examples, modest delivery-bill reductions. Multifamily fixed charges would be levied per dwelling unit, at 25% of the single-family base charge per unit. Non-residential customers would be charged a uniform volumetric rate equivalent to the second residential tier.

The council also reviewed the wastewater side of the study. No change was recommended to single-family wastewater rates, which are based on a three-month winter water-use average reset annually in July. The average single-family wastewater bill is about $44 a month. Proposed changes would create a distinct multifamily wastewater class, with a fixed charge set at 75% of the single-family charge per dwelling unit and a residential-equivalent volumetric rate. Commercial wastewater fixed charges would scale by meter size, while commercial volumetric rates would remain unchanged.

Staff said the wastewater fund is financially stable, but flagged future costs at the Greenfield Water Reclamation Plant as an item requiring continued monitoring. Queen Creek currently has 4 million gallons per day of capacity at the plant and is renting additional capacity; a 2 million gallons-per-day expansion is under way.

Separately, the council unanimously approved a new capital project, WW106, and a $220,046 change order to construct wastewater facilities for the Municipal Services Building and Fire Administration Building.

Staff also clarified public concern over a $40 sewer charge. The charge applies only to roughly 64 remaining unconnected accounts in Queen Creek Ranchettes and Tara Ranch, where sewer infrastructure was installed under an earlier arrangement. It is not a new charge for septic-system customers generally, and staff said it is reviewing whether to sunset it.

This summary was generated by AI based on the source document and may contain errors.

Source: Town Council Regular Session - Oct 21, 2026, Queen Creek Utilities