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Municipal and Industrial Water Rate-setting Policy for Central Valley Project water contractors were finalized earlier this week by the Bureau of Reclamation.
The rate-setting policy reflects the recovery of the federal investment for construction, operation and maintenance of the CVP for M&I water users. It provides the methodology for costs to be recovered through annual water rates and distributed between the M&I contractors for services that Reclamation offers.
“This is a great milestone that has been outstanding for many years,” said Regional Director Ernest Conant. “The finalization of this policy will provide our M&I water contractors with greater certainty, so they can better plan into the future. Thank you to the Reclamation team and CVP partners who worked so diligently to see this achievement through.”
A couple of key changes from the interim policy to the final policy is M&I annual operation and maintenance deficit accumulated are recovered through 2035, where before they were recoverable through 2030 and elimination of the minimum water rate, which was previously set at $15 per acre-foot. The policy, as approved, will be applicable for the 2021 water rates and associated 2021 water contractor accounting year.
The policy is available here https://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvp/laws-regs-ref.html.
