Electric, Water Fees May Rise 5.7% Under Inflation-Based Proposal

Riversiders may see a 5.7% inflation-based increase to electric and water user fees after the Board of Public Utilities unanimously voted June 8 to send the proposal to the City Council for a June 23 public hearing.

The board’s vote comes after the council last month considered a separate Municipal Code change that would tie future annual fee increases to Consumer Price Index (CPI) data automatically — but ultimately declined that proposal.

“The City council last month…provided input on a revision to the Riverside Municipal Code to apply an annual inflator to the fees and charges based on CPI,” Assistant General Manager of Finance and Administration Brian Seinturier told the board. “City Council was not very supportive of making a change to the Riverside Municipal Code, so that is not being brought forward to you tonight or to the city council later this month.”

Instead, the proposed fee update is moving forward as a standalone action.

Seinturier told the board the increase is based on CPI data for the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario region from January 2024 to November 2025. The adjustment is meant to supplement – not replace – the broader fee studies the city typically conducts every three to five years, he said.

If approved by the council, the fees would take effect July 1 and are expected to generate about $476,000 for the electric fund and $121,000 for the water fund, for a total annual revenue impact of roughly $603,000, according to the staff report.

The proposal comes after no fee increase was brought forward for fiscal year 2025–26. Staff said the new update would help avoid a larger jump later if fees are not adjusted more regularly.

The proposal includes rounding changes prompted by the federal discontinuation of penny production. Staff said most fees would be rounded to the nearest dollar, while some smaller charges would be rounded to the nearest nickel or dime, depending on the amount, to avoid over-collecting and stay within the estimated cost of service.

Board members pressed staff on how the rounding decisions were being made, and officials said the approach was applied fee by fee with documentation supporting the changes.