The new year will bring new water and sewer billing to all residential properties in North Huron.
Beginning January 1, 2025, all residential properties with municipal water or sewer services will transition to monthly flat rate billing.
Dax McAllister, Director of Public Works and Facilities, told council in September that the town's water meters needed to be replaced, a cost estimated at $4 million for Wingham alone.
"The water meters are at end of life," he said. "We have several in failure. As time goes on, more and more will fail, and we'll eventually be sort of at a flat rate. If we were to go the water meter route, there's a significant upgrade to all the meters, not just the (residences) that don't have meters."
McAllister added that replacing the meters would be a costly undertaking, at a time when public works has other big projects like building a new standpipe.
All residents receiving municipal water or sewer services will receive their final metered invoice for 2024 in early January. Existing meters will remain installed at the property but will no longer be used for billing purposes.
The new fixed rate fee for water at residential properties is $76 monthly and sewer is $62 monthly.
Council can consider installing new meters in the future and returning to a metered billing rate.
