Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

Aquatera charges for water, wastewater and garbage collection to increase in Grande Prairie, recycling charge dropping

Jan 28, 2025 | 6:00 AM

City council approved amendments to the utility bylaw at Monday’s meeting.

The changes include increases to water, wastewater and garbage collection charges but a decrease for the recycling charge.

Once the increases and the over $4.00 per month recycling charge decrease are added together, Aquatera customers in the city will see their bills go up an average of $2.82 per month as of March 1.

Aquatera CEO Vaughn Bend says the company does not like to raise its rates…

“But I think that when we balance against our obligation to serve, then we really don’t have any choice.”

“What I would say (to customers) is there are opportunities in part of our rates to reduce some of that because part of our rate is fixed and part of it is variable. So, there are ways. When I talked about conservation in front of council, people, if they conserve water, they reduce their rates.”

The recycling charge is going down because Grande Prairie is moving to Extended Producer Responsibility, where the cost of recycling waste is paid for by the companies that produce it, rather than municipalities.

Bend adds while this is a cost savings here, it likely means the consumer price will go up.

“Essentially, the transfer of the cost is being moved from customers, residents of Grande Prairie, to the producers. But I think we both know that when businesses have additional costs, they just raise their prices and I think that’s what’s going to happen ultimately. I can’t guarantee that.”

Bend says this does not change curbside recycling collection or operations for the Eco-Centre.

He adds the increase will help maintain service plus pay for the replacement of what he calls “critical infrastructure.”

“One of the ones we are working (on) right now is a new water treatment reservoir. What that does (is that) with there drought conditions, it gives us more room.”

“Right now, we have about two or three days of reserve. That varies of course. But, what this will do, it will give us another number of days in case something happens to the water treatment plant. We can run it off that reservoir.”

The new bylaw also has a new section saying the Aquatera manager may reduce or cut off service without notice to prevent or lessen damage in an emergency.

It also has a section that says water use restrictions could be brought in if needed and outlines the fines for any offenders caught not following those restrictions.

The fines start at $400 for a first offence, then go to $600, $1,500 and $2,500 for subsequent offences.