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A Ratio Utility Billing System (RUBS) is a system of charging all residents equally for a service, no matter how much of the service is used individually.

An example of RUBS is often found in rental agreements. Landlords, in some communities throughout the U.S. that don’t require separate meters for services that would separate dwelling units within a building, will rely on RUBS to claim they are “fairly” allocating the sewer (or water, electric, heating) cost to the tenants. They may base their calculations of cost among tenants by dividing the bill equally by the number of units being supplied.

The truth is that the calculation methods, some including measuring square footage occupied, or the number of tenants in each dwelling, is neither accurate or fair and it is impossible to measure the real use of individuals by implementing RUBS.

West Easton has been using RUBS billing to determine the sewer charge to residents.

Our sewer charge is based on West Easton Borough’s total potable water usage reported to Easton Suburban Water Company. The Easton Area Joint Sewer Authority (EAJSA) uses the water company’s figures to calculate their sewer charge to West Easton.

The total sewer charge is then divided equally among residents to generate the needed revenue to pay the sewer bill.

The system is unfair to about two-thirds of residents who are actually paying more toward making up the difference from those using more water than the majority, in meeting the costs from the EAJSA.

At an adjusted rate of $5.60 per unit of sewage, based on the same amount of potable water units used, Mayor DePaul provided a report of his findings in 2017, when he was Council President. The breakdown chart presented at that Council Meeting can be seen HERE.

To determine how much you would pay for sewage using the figures found in the link above, get your Easton Suburban Water bill. Locate your “Cubic Feet Used” column. Drop the “zeros” from the total (that is, 800 would become “8”). “8” would be the “Units” used in calculating your sewer charge.

Your potable water use charges from Easton Suburban Water would not be affected by a new calculation of sewer charges.

To print a breakdown of charges you can download it HERE.

I’ve been given a couple of reasons why the billing system used today may have been chosen when a sewer system was installed in the borough, rather than billing for actual usage.
1. It made for an easier billing system for the borough, requiring no calculating of individual bills.
2. When the existing sewer billing system was implemented by the Council those many decades ago, some were among the heaviest water users at the time.

Whatever the reason was, West Easton residents should pay only for what they use individually – not for what their neighbors use.

West Easton is among the last communities to use this communal system of billing for sewage. Almost all have switched to actual usage, determined by potable water that is recorded by households and businesses.

RUBS is not only an unfair system, but it also promotes waste. It’s a billing system that overcharges those who conserve water and undercharges the minority of heavy water users, because it doesn’t accurately account for individual usage.

Using a communal billing system provides no incentive to conserve water, because that will not lower an individual’s sewer bill. In fact, there’s actually a monetary freedom to use potable water in excess, because they heaviest users of water will not have to pay for the extra sewage cost by themselves. Under RUBS, other residents in the community will offset the cost of heavy water users when it is covered by a higher fixed flat fee that will follow from the EAJSA.

As Council’s Utility Committee investigates the possibility of changing the sewer billing method to a “pay-for-what-you-use” system, it is receiving vocal opposition.

The opposition to a possible change are from those who use more water than the average resident, or are swayed by untrue fears being promoted of an increased sewer bill for every resident.

Those who fill a large pool every year, wash their car when a bird turd hits it, water lawns daily, rent out spare rooms in their home, or simply engage in wasteful water use, are likely to see an increase in their sewer bill because they would begin paying for the water that is calculated into sewer charges, without the rest of the community sharing that cost.

Even the heaviest users could help themselves in lowering their sewer bill by installing diversion meters. These are meters installed on water intake lines that allow a home or business avoid being charged for sewer when water is used outside the home.

The recent false claim by a resident at a council meeting, that 95% of residents will see larger bills under a new system, that flushing of toilets will have to be reduced, and that taking showers will be some sort of luxury are frankly, absurd.

Those who have been consciously trying to conserve water by having put bricks in toilet tanks (or installed more efficient toilets), using nozzles on hoses, collecting rain water for their gardens, fixing dripping faucets, installed low volume shower heads, not leaving taps open when washing dishes by hand, washing full loads in clothes washers or dish washers, among the many ways they conserve water, would see a reduction in their sewer bill.

Overall, if every home and business were to take measures in reducing potable water usage, the entire borough would see a reduction in the cost of sewage treatment, resulting in a lower bill to our town. That would correlate to an eventual lower “per unit” charge for sewer revenue needed to be collected.

People who have to pay their own energy bill ensure that no door or window remains open when their A/C or heating system is on. They will even adjust the temperature up or down a few degrees to save on the cost because electric, gas, and oil bills have to be paid by them, alone.

When it comes to water use though, because the sewer is a shared cost to everyone, it flows freely and often without restraint.