Columbus weighs another 18% water rate hike — average household would pay $124 more a year
Photo: 706 Report — a Columbus Water Works treatment facility (file photo)For the second year in a row, Columbus City Council is weighing an 18% water bill increase for city and suburban customers that could cost the average household more than $100 a year — and two advocates for low-income residents and seniors on the city's Utility Advisory Board voted against it.
City officials say the proposed increases would bring in at least $20 million more in revenue and are necessary to pay for a fourth water plant — delayed after nobody bid to build it — and other infrastructure projects. Columbus City Council will have the final say.
The council's Public Utilities & Sustainability committee will hold a hearing on the rate increases and capital projects at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12, at City Hall. Council intends to vote on the rate increases on Nov. 23.
At an October meeting of the seven-member Utility Advisory Board, Katie White, executive director of the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging, and Jackie Gutter, a staff attorney at Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio, both voted against the 18% increase to water rates. White also voted against a city electric power rate increase. The board voted unanimously for a 4% sanitary sewer rate increase and a 2% stormwater rate increase. The board's votes are only advisory.
White told The Columbus Dispatch that inflation and changes at the federal level to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are already hitting residents hard. "We absolutely need to make sure our water infrastructure is up to date, it just is coming at the cost of residents," she said.
At the advisory board meeting, White suggested delaying the 18% water increase by a year, similar to the city's decision to postpone a new high-demand water surcharge aimed at data centers. But Deputy Water & Power Director Jon Lee told board members a delay could further push back the city's planned fourth water plant, which officials say is needed to meet future demand in the growing region.
After the city received no bids this year to build the plant for nearly $2 billion, it is updating plans for the project and targeting putting it back out to bid in early 2027, Lee told The Dispatch. The city also faces about $1 billion in costs to replace its remaining lead service lines under a federal mandate.
Councilmember Christopher Wyche, who chairs council's Public Utilities & Sustainability committee, said he understands people are struggling and that is why the city has increased outreach on its discount programs. Still, he is supporting the rate increases.
"We have to make adult choices and smart decisions on where we are going from an infrastructure standpoint," Wyche said. "We cannot wait to build things when we need them because then it will be too late and the cost just continues to go up."
As proposed, city customers would see their combined bill for water, sewer and stormwater go up by about 10%, and suburban customers would see an 11% hike on their combined water and sewer bill. The average household of two to three people in Columbus would see its annual bill rise from $1,247 to $1,371, an increase of about $124, according to Columbus Water & Power estimates. The average two- to three-person suburban household would see its annual bill rise from $1,370 to $1,523, an increase of about $153.
The rate package reaches beyond water. Columbus also provides electricity to about 19,000 residential and commercial customers. The city's Division of Power is proposing a residential rate increase it estimates will raise customers' monthly bills by about $10, though still below what Ohio Power charges. For commercial customers, the division is seeking no electricity rate increase in 2027 to stay competitive with Ohio Power's commercial rates.
Columbus Water & Power has bill discount programs for seniors age 60 and older and households in the city earning up to 200% of the federal poverty line — for example, a three-person household earning $51,876 or less annually qualifies. The city is preparing to raise the discount for income-qualified customers from 30% to 35%. Still, city officials say the programs are underutilized: enrollment has risen by 36% in the last year to about 11,800 customers, including about 5,700 seniors, but many eligible homeowners are not enrolled, and the city continues to struggle to reach renters in apartment complexes with master meters. To sign up, residents can go to columbus.gov/payassist or call (614) 645-8276 during business hours on weekdays.
Sources: The Columbus Dispatch, "Columbus weighing 18% water rate hike despite advocates' opposition" (Nov. 12, 2026, full text verified); Dublin Ohio Daily, "Why Dublin Ohio's Water Bills Are Rising Again" (Oct. 28, 2026) — independently confirms Columbus's rate increases are pushing suburban bills up about 11% in 2027; Citizen Portal, "Utility advisory board backs 2026 rate package" (Nov. 14, 2025) — confirms last year's 18% water increase, the basis for "second year in a row." Event date verified: November 12, 2026 (Dispatch report; council hearing today, vote Nov. 23). Note: the proposal itself is so far carried in full only by The Columbus Dispatch; other major outlets had not published their own reports at publication time.
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