VILLAGE WATER RATES: Up, Up, And Away!
Bill Lewis, the current President of the Village of Climax, is leading the Council into raising our water rates. The rate will now increase from $3.80/thousand plus a $25 service charge to $4.50/thousand plus a $28 service charge. That is, unless the citizens speak up at the next Council meeting on May 19 at 6:30 p. m. in the Lawrence Memorial District Library, 107 N. Main St., Climax, MI 49034.
At the April 21 Council meeting Lewis’ excuse for raising the price we pay for Village water was that residents had reduced their use of it. That sounded kind of loopy, so he changed his approach. Taking a different tac at the May 5 meeting, he tied his water rate increase to the last two rate increases by Consumers Energy. Wait, what? No kidding! Yes, Lewis based his intended water rate increase not upon local math but upon the smoke and mirrors and political jiggering that goes into increasing our electricity rates.
Yes folks, he supported his water rate increase with a handout citing various commentaries about the 2.8% increase that Consumer’s Energy got in March 2025 and the 13.3% increase that it applied for a month later in June 2025. Those increases together came to 16.1% which is the water rate increase Lewis initially proposed at the April 21 Council meeting. That would have raised our rates to $4.40 or $4.41 per thousand gallons and left the $25 service fee alone.
Aside from the novelty of tying our water rates to electric rate increases for Consumers Energy, Lewis provided no analysis for a water rate increase. And in true Lewis fashion, he wasn’t even straight-forward about recent rate increases that the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) had granted to Consumers Energy.
The MPSC did grant to Consumers Energy a roughly 2.8% electric rate increase in March 2025. But it did not grant a 13.1% increase in response to the June 2025 request by Consumers. After a public outcry the MPSC granted a rate increase of approximately 8.5% on March 27, 2026.
Instead of the 16.1% rate increase for Consumers Energy that Lewis used to benchmark his water rate increase in the Village, the combined rate increase for Consumers Energy was only 11.3%. Lewis had to know this since it occurred almost two months before the May 5, 2026, Council meeting. But he didn’t mention it and thereby led other Council members astray in the reasoning he gave though pathetic as it was to begin with.
The MPSC does anything but public service. If you’ve ever watched one of their meetings you will quickly realize that it is simply Kabuki theatre. In other words, MPSC meetings are characterized more by showmanship than by content. Consumers Energy always asks for way more of an increase than it wants and the MPSC grants it less thereby looking like it has done the public a favor. Truth is that Governor Whitmer has pushed solar panels and the energy companies, including Consumers, get what they want through the MPSC so long as the energy companies advance Whitmer’s wishes.
Another thing that only got a fleeting reference in Lewis’ push for his Village water rate increase is the $250,000 that the Council is holding in a CD. It was referred to at the May 5 Council meeting as money from our past water bills. That means that Lewis is asking for a water rate increase while sitting on $250,000 of water money that is not being used for its intended purpose. If memory is correct, the Council is getting 4% interest on that money which is $10,000 a year.
Does the Village really need a rate increase? If it does, the Council will have to make a much better case to justify reaching further into our pockets.
END
