FAQs: Water, Sewer & Electric Rates

  • Question: Why are rates planned to be increased again in 2025 and 2026, since the City just did this rate increase?
    • Answer: The City’s costs to provide water and sewer service to our customers increase every year. Our goal is to make essential rate increases predictable and incremental, to benefit our customers’ budgeting needs as well as ours in service to you. This is consistent with guidance from State and Federal authorities (e.g. the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority and Environmental Finance Center). The City will be reviewing projected rate adjustments annually, prior to adoption.
  • Question: Why did my billing category/classification change?
    • Answer: The City consolidated customer classifications to make billing rates clearer and simpler, to enhance transparency. The City’s goal is billing equality. Therefore, customers of the same type are grouped under a single rate structure reflective of the City’s costs to serve that customer type.
  • Question: Why does my rate structure have so many tiers?
    • Answer: The “Base” charge is intended to cover fixed service costs that the City incurs to provide the utility, while volumetric charges (Supply/Delivery for Water, and Volume/Collection for Sewer) are intended to cover costs related to the amount of use of that utility. It is common – and often even required – to set higher rates for higher usage tiers because these put greater demands on the City’s water resources.
  • Question: Will my billing statement change to reflect detailed billing?
    • Answer: Staff is working with our billing partners to revamp the layout of the utility bill to ensure that charges are clear.” to read “Staff is working with our billing partners to expand the layout of the utility bill to enhance billing clarity.
  • Question: Why are the City of Atlanta’s water rates lower than the City of Fairburn’s?
    • Answer: Fairburn conducted a competitive analysis of similar and neighboring utilities prior to adopting this rate adjustment. Atlanta presents its volumetric water rates in “CCF” or 100-cubic-foot units, which is different than Fairburn’s measurements in 1,000-gallon increments, so the unit costs cannot be directly compared without unit conversion. Additionally, recognize that Atlanta is currently using other revenue sources (i.e. the Municipal Option Sales Tax) to subsidize its water billing revenues, whereas Fairburn strives to operate its water utility as financially self-sustaining. Every water utility is unique with respect to the actual costs it incurs to provide water to its customers and how it captures those costs in its billing rates.
  • Question: Why are Fulton County's sewer rates lower than the City of Fairburn’s?
    • Answer: Fairburn conducted a competitive analysis of similar and neighboring utilities prior to adopting this rate adjustment. Fulton County increases its sewer rates by 5% annually. Fairburn has absorbed Fulton’s rate increases since 2011 to defer this essential adjustment. Every water utility is unique with respect to the actual costs it incurs to provide water to its customers and how it captures those costs in its billing rates.