Dublin Town Problems

On this page:

1. Summary of Problem
2. Quick Facts
3. Water Rate Comparisons
   • Residential
   • Commercial
   • Industrial
4. Historical Water Usage
5. Waterlines and Boundaries

Summary of Problem

The Town of Dublin does not have a viable water supply within its boundaries, so instead, the town purchases water from the Pulaski County, Virginia Public Service Authority (PSA) at a significantly discounted rate, currently $3.43 per 1000 gallons. Instead of passing those savings on to their consumers, the Town of Dublin applies an extraordinary surcharge to essentially "resell" the water. On top of that, the Town of Dublin charges a "base rate" to all customers (though it does not pay one itself to the Pulaski County PSA), and additionally charges a $3.50 per month (residential) or $4.50 per month (commercial/industrial) "infrastructure rehabilitation" fee, the benefits of which are unclear.

Quick Facts

The Town of Dublin purchases water from the Pulaski County PSA at a rate of $3.43 per 1000 gallons, makes no improvements or changes to the water, but charges:

• "in town" residential customers $7.35 per 1000 gallons (a 114% mark-up over actual costs), plus a pure-profit base rate of $20.00 and infrastructure rehabilitation fee of $3.50.
• "out of town" residential customers $9.20 per 1000 gallons (a 168% mark-up over actual costs), plus a pure-profit base rate of $34.00 and infrastructure rehabilitation fee of $3.50.
• "in town" commercial customers $8.35 per 1000 gallons (a 143% mark-up over actual costs), plus a pure-profit base rate of $40.00 and infrastructure rehabilitation fee of $4.50.
• "out of town" commercial customers $10.13 per 1000 gallons (a 195% mark-up over actual costs), plus a pure-profit base rate of $64.00 and infrastructure rehabilitation fee of $4.50.
• "in town" industrial customers $10.10 per 1000 gallons (a 194% mark-up over actual costs), plus a pure-profit base rate of $80.00 and infrastructure rehabilitation fee of $4.50.
• "out of town" industrial customers $11.40 per 1000 gallons (a 232% mark-up over actual costs), plus a pure-profit base rate of $80.00 and infrastructure rehabilitation fee of $4.50.

For a detailed breakdown of these rates and real-world examples, please see the Water Rate Comparisons section below.

Water Rate Comparisons

Town Source: http://www.dublintown.org/assets/documents/news/public-hearing-rates-fees-decreases.pdf

County Source: https://pulaskicounty.org/documents/psa/psa-water-sewer-rates-2022.pdf

We have performed an analysis comparing the rates of the Pulaski County PSA against the "in town" and "out of town" rates of the Town of Dublin. Keep in mind that each residential customer is billed a $3.50 per month "infrastructure rehabilitation" fee, so we've bundled that with the advertised base rate for comparison purposes. We'll begin with residential customers:

As you can see, the Town of Dublin is significantly and unfairly burdening "out of town" residential consumers. "Out of town" residential consumers are charged 60% more base rate, and 25% more for the exact same water product. Here is a real-life example:

• An "in town" residential consumer using 2000 gallons a month is charged $23.50/month for base rate, plus $7.35/month for each 1000 gallons. This would total $38.20 per month, for an annual total of $458.40.
• An "out of town" residential consumer using 2000 gallons a month is charged $37.50/month for base rate, plus $9.20/month for each 1000 gallons. This would total $55.90 per month, for an annual total of $670.80.
• That's over $212 per year that the Town of Dublin is unfairly burdening on an out of town residential consumer.
• If this same residential consumer was serviced by the Pulaski County PSA, their monthly water bill would be $25.61, for an annual total of $307.32. That's a savings of over $150 annually for "in town" residential consumers, or a savings of over $360 annually for "out of town" residential consumers.

Now let's review the analysis of commercial customers. Each commercial customer is billed a $4.50 per month "infrastructure rehabilitation" fee, so we've bundled that with the advertised base rate for comparison purposes:

Interestingly enough, the Town of Dublin gives a large discount on base rate to commercial customers, but yet again, overcharges by large margins on the exact same water product. Here is another real-life example:

• An "in town" commercial consumer using 50,000 gallons a month is charged $44.50/month for base rate, plus $8.35/month for each 1000 gallons. This would total $462.00 per month, for an annual total of $6,444.00.
• An "out of town" commercial consumer using 50,000 gallons a month is charged $68.50/month for base rate, plus $10.13/month for each 1000 gallons. This would total $575.00 per month, for an annual total of $6,900.00.
• That's over $1,350 per year that the Town of Dublin is unfairly burdening on an out of town commercial consumer.
• If this same commercial consumer was serviced by the Pulaski County PSA, their monthly water bill would be $368.56, for an annual total of $4,422.72. That's a savings of over $1,120 annually for "in town" commercial consumers, or a savings of over $2,400 annually for "out of town" commercial consumers.

Finally, let's review the analysis of industrial customers. Again, each industrial customer is billed a $4.50 per month "infrastructure rehabilitation" fee, so we've bundled that with the advertised base rate for comparison purposes:

Again, the Town of Dublin gives a large discount on base rate to industrial customers, but also overcharges by large margins on the exact same water product. Here is a final real-life example:

• An "in town" industrial consumer using 100,000 gallons a month is charged $84.50/month for base rate, plus $10.10/month for each 1000 gallons. This would total $1,094.50 per month, for an annual total of $13,134.00.
• An "out of town" industrial consumer using 100,000 gallons a month is charged $84.50/month for base rate, plus $11.40/month for each 1000 gallons. This would total $1,224.50 per month, for an annual total of $14,694.00.
• That's over $1,500 per year that the Town of Dublin is unfairly burdening on an out of town industrial consumer.
• If this same industrial consumer was serviced by the Pulaski County PSA, their monthly water bill would be $697.14, for an annual total of $8,365.68. That's a savings of over $4,700 annually for "in town" industrial consumers, or a savings of over $6,300 annually for "out of town" industrial consumers.

Historical Water Usage

We filed multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the Town of Dublin from November 2022 thru March 2023 to request information regarding the quantity and cost of water purchased from the Pulaski County PSA on a monthly rolling basis over the preceeding two years. As you can see below, the Town of Dublin averaged a monthly purchase of 22.03 million gallons of water from June 2020 through February 2023, though the trendline indicates that monthly total has been slowly declining.

Town of Dublin, VA Water Consumption (Monthly)

Based on this same FOIA request, we completed an analysis to determine a daily average of water consumption by all consumers of the Town of Dublin's water. The highest daily average of 989,339 gallons of water per day was in July 2021, and the lowest daily average of 406,573 gallons of water per day was in November 2022, though more recent data indicates varying levels in subsequent months.

Town of Dublin, VA Water Consumption (Daily Average)

Waterlines and Boundaries

Source: https://pulaskicounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=f25bc3e4629b4752b88672ab8e13a359

Below is a map indicating the Town of Dublin boundaries (shaded/outlined in green), the Town of Dublin waterlines (in blue), and the Pulaski County PSA waterlines (in red). We have estimated that there are 4 points where the Town of Dublin waterlines connect to the source Pulaski County PSA waterlines (markers in yellow). Note: there are several points where a Town of Dublin waterline reconnects back to a Pulaski County PSA waterline, but it is not a "source" connection, and only serves downstream customers.

As you can see, all "in town" water customers actually get their water via piping that is outside the town boundaries. It simply does not make sense why the "out of town" customers are charged significantly more for water when the Town of Dublin provides no extra value to those customers over the "in town" customers. In reality, the Town of Dublin needs the waterlines outside the town boundaries to actually provide water to customers within the town boundaries.

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