Water bills in the RM of Grey could be impacted by a new by-law that passed 1st reading at the last Council meeting.

Reeve Ray Franzmann says Council's taking a look at a new passthrough increase.

"We only do water rate studies to determine what we charge to our ratepayers every three-to-five years. In that time, we sometimes get hit with higher costs for our wholesale water as we buy it from Pembina Valley Water Coop and Cartier Water Coop. What this does is, it allows us to pass-through these small increases without having to do another water rate study. So if the water goes up 20 cents a thousand litres, or 2 per cent, we can pass that on to the ratepayers without having to go back to the Public Utilities Board."

Franzman explains the process.

"There is some room to take these increases, but after two or three years of increases we have to look again and say did we have enough room to cover the wholesale costs that are rising, and if it's not, we'll go through the by-law and pass along the increase to the ratepayers as needed."

He adds sometimes the water co-ops will  raise the cost a bit, but Council doesn't raise the fees for ratepayers because protection is built into their bills. He says it's easier to just pass the small increase on, rather than doing a long water rate study.

"We could be losing money on our utility during that time. So when we do an actual study, we do put five or ten percent, or some number we're comfortable with, to allow us some flexability. You're building a little bit of cushion into the number, but after two or three years, if water rates go up three, four, or five percent, which is more than we were anticipating, we won't haven enough cushion, and we'll have to pass along the rate."