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Overview of stormwater rate changes for commercial and industrial customers

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On July 1, 2024, City of Portland sewer, stormwater, and water utility customers will see changes to their sewer and stormwater charges. This page is a summary of the stormwater changes for commercial and industrial customers.
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New stormwater billing method

Changes to the bills of industrial and commercial properties depend on the activity happening on the property and the amount of stormwater billable area. Properties with smaller amounts of stormwater billable area and heavy sanitary sewer use (medical facilities, breweries, etc.) could see small increases to their bill. Properties with large amounts of stormwater billable area and a proportionally smaller amount of sanitary sewer use will see larger increases on their bills. Stormwater billable area is calculated by adding up the developed area of a property (roofs, patios, driveways, etc.).

Environmental Services will no longer use “on-site” and “off-site” stormwater charges. Instead, you will be billed using a combination of “stormwater billable area” and “service units.”  This will help ensure that Environmental Services is more accurately billing each customer based on the cost of serving that customer, as well as bring Environmental Services’ billing practices more closely in line with other sewer and stormwater utilities across the country.

Graphic shows old format and new format of billing details. Old format shows stormwater off-site and on-site. New format shows stormwater billable area: 136,000 square feet and stormwater service unit: Other, 56.67. The 136,000 square feet is noted as the measured stormwater billable area for the property. For service unit, other represents a commercial, industrial or other non-residential property. 56.67 is the number of units based on 136,000 square feet divided by 2,400 square feet.

Stormwater billable area

Stormwater billable area is the developed area of a property. Development prevents stormwater from flowing naturally or soaking into the ground.  Stormwater Billable Area includes areas like rooftops, porous pavement, patios, and driveways. Please note: Overwater structures, such as floating homes and docks, are not included as stormwater billable area. 

A graphic that shows the storwmater billable area of a commercial property from an aerial perspective. It includes all roof areas, plus paved driveways, walkways, patios, and parking lots.

Stormwater service units

The number of service units refers to the number of dwelling units on the property. For non-residential properties without dwelling units, Environmental Services will calculate units using the square footage of the property’s stormwater billable area divided by 2,400 square feet, which is the stormwater billable area for an average Portland home.

A graphic showing the stormwater service units calculation for a commercial property. 136,000 square feet of stormwater billable area equals 56.67 stormwater service units.

Expanded Clean River Rewards eligibility

Customers who safely manage some or all of their property's stormwater runoff on their properties can register for a discount on their stormwater charges. Commercial and industrial properties may be eligible for the expanded and simplified Clean River Rewards discount program.  

If you currently participate in Clean River Rewards you don‘t need to take any action to maintain your discount over this transition. Your current discount will be automatically converted to the new discount calculation.  

The way the discount is displayed on the bill will change, but the value of the discount will not change. The discount will go from being displayed as a percentage of on-site stormwater charges to being displayed as a percentage of all stormwater charges. The program’s maximum discount is now 35 percent, which is equal to what was 100 percent of the on-site charge. If you aren’t participating in the stormwater discount program, find more information on how to participate.

An image showing how Clean River Rewards showed up on the old bill, versus the new bill. The old bill says 100% of on-site charge. The new bill says 35% of stormwater charges.

Changes to sanitary sewer rates

The way sanitary sewer charges are billed will remain unchanged and not appear different on your bill. However, we're adjusting rates so that a larger portion of your bill goes towards stormwater services and a smaller portion goes to sanitary sewer services.  Residential customers will see a decrease in their sanitary sewer rate, while non-residential customers will see a small increase in their sanitary sewer rate.

Contact

Portland Water Bureau Customer Service

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