PITTSBURGH — The largest sewer utility in Allegheny County will be hitting customers with a series of rate increases as it seeks to meet federally mandated targets to reduce the amount of sewage leaking into Pittsburgh’s rivers.
ALCOSAN board members approved three rate increases over the next three years. Starting January 1, sewer rates will rise by 14%, adding about $8.40 to a typical household’s monthly bill.
They’ll rise by another 14% in 2028 and 13.5% in 2029. After the third increase, customers will pay roughly $30 per month more than they did this past year, which amounts to $341 per year and 47.5% more than the current average bill.
“It’s never easy to look at these things, especially as prices are increasing everywhere,” one board member said ahead of the vote, as if she was predicting blowback.
Another board member said department heads had made cuts and the utility would pursue state and federal funding to head off some of the expected hikes when available.
The costs are tied to the Ohio River Tunnel project in Pittsburgh, which aims to reduce regional sewer overflows by 7 billion gallons per year.
The tunnel is the first component of ALCOSAN’s Regional Tunnel System. The underground network is designed to capture excess wastewater during wet weather and transport it to a central facility for treatment.
The federal government struck an agreement with ALCOSAN as authorities eyed the system’s ageing infrastructure, which has struggled to contain sewage during heavy rain and snowmelt events.
However, customers weren’t thrilled to learn about the cost, which came the same week Duquesne Light Company announced a rate hike to accommodate the increased cost to purchase power for its grid and GetGo began charging customers for air.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Pittsburgh remains an affordable city to live in, especially for housing costs.
However, inflation in the Northeast – which includes Pennsylvania – is rising faster than the US average, and Pittsburghers paid higher than average utility costs even before ALCOSAN’s hike.
“I understand needing to equip our sewers and sewage with everything; I just think that’s a lot of money for us,” Katherine Kostiuk said.
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