Usage charges inside and outside City.
Oklahoma City Municipal Code § 55-62
in effect§ 55-62. - Usage charges inside and outside City.
(a) There is hereby established a schedule of charges for all water delivered monthly through the meters of the water system of the City for use within the corporate limits of the City. The schedule of such charges shall be as established in Chapter 60, the General Schedule of Fees. From time to time, certain customer classes, rates, rate schedules, charges, and fees may be amended, revised, phased out, or merged with other schedules of charges. Less and except when a customer class, rate, rate schedule, charge or fee is amended, revised, phased out, or merged as provided in this Code or by amended of this Code, customers may not change customer classes, rates, rate schedules, charges and fees. Should a customer use or manipulate or attempt to use or manipulate the City water system to avoid being charged or to circumvent full cost recovery or reasonable cost allocation, then the Director may reassign a customer to a different customer class, rate, rate schedule, charge or fee to accomplish full cost recovery or reasonable cost allocation. In the event of force majeure as determined by the Director, the Director may, in the Director's sole discretion, adjust customer class, rates, rate schedules, charges or fees to accomplish full cost recovery or reasonable cost allocation. Force majeure as used herein shall mean a natural catastrophe or unavoidable event.
(b) For all water delivered through City meters for use within and without the corporate limits, the user shall pay a quantity charge(s) for water delivered plus a monthly water customer service charge(s) based on the size of the water meter, known as a monthly water customer service charge (per meter), which shall be charged regardless of water usage or non-usage. The quantity charge(s) for water may include multiple components including, but not limited to, block rates, base rates, reservation rates, excess rates, peak-day rates, and peak-hour rates.
(c) In addition to the charges in Subsection (b) above, there shall be additional charge(s) as established in Chapter 60, the General Schedule of Fees for any housekeeping unit in:
(1) a mobile home park,
(2) apartments,
(3) any other multiple housekeeping unit structures, complexes, properties with three or more housekeeping units (less and except for hotels, motels, and wholesale customers) which do not have a separate meter for each housekeeping unit, and
(4) other existing multiple residential unit service areas that are master metered, provided nothing herein authorized any new or additional master metered multiple residential unit service areas.
(d) Housekeeping units charge. The City has established housekeeping unit charge(s) to recover certain costs, including but not limited to, the costs of notice, communication and administration of customer accounts with multiple (four or more) housekeeping units.
(1) "housekeeping unit" charges are not levied for a single-family residential house, duplex or a triplex.
(2) a "housekeeping unit," in the case of quadplexes or larger residential facilities such as apartments or any other multiple housekeeping unit structures (less and except for hotels, motels, and wholesale customers) each being a unit with kitchen facilities or privileges for family functions, each housekeeping unit structure with kitchen facilities or privileges for family functions shall be deemed a housekeeping unit.
(3) a " housekeeping unit," in the case of mobile home parks, being each location or pad with a water hookup or where a water hookup is available or has in the past been made, whether said location or pad is occupied or unoccupied at the time of billing.
(e) As used in this chapter and Chapter 60, the General Schedule of Fees, to determine applicable water rates:
(1) "Average Winter Water Consumption" (AWC) shall be defined as the arithmetic average monthly water volume computed based upon the metered or estimated water usage on bills rendered during the months of December through February for a particular utility account. Provided, however, the Director at her/his discretion may use the March water usage bill as deemed necessary to establish the AWC. The AWC for each utility account will be recalculated each year and will be applicable to water usage charges in April and thereafter until a new AWC is established for that utility account. The AWC will be used to determine the applicable rate block per thousand-gallon water usage charge(s) for nonresidential utility accounts until the AWC is established for the customer as provided herein. In those instances when no or insufficient data for calculating the AWC for a particular utility account, the Customer Service Superintendent will determine the appropriate method of estimating the AWC for the utility account. In estimating the AWC, the Customer Service Superintendent may consider prior and subsequent volumes or usages, partial meter readings, pipe sizes, pumping capacities, water pressures, weather, number of water facilities, the number of occupants or water users, similar users and uses, and other relevant factors.
(2) A "residential utility account" shall be defined as a utility account, as determined by the Customer Service Superintendent, to serve one or more housekeeping units.
(3) A "nonresidential utility account" shall be defined as any utility account which is not a residential utility account.
(f) Private fire service charges - Monthly. Customers with dedicated private fire lines will be charged monthly private fire service charges for service and service availability based upon the diameter (in inches) of each connection to the City water system in accordance with the applicable rate in Chapter 60, the General Schedule of Fees.
(Code 1970, § 35-43(a); Ord. No. 15830, § 1, 6-10-80; Ord. No. 16286, § 1, 7-7-81; Ord. No. 16749, § 1, 6-29-82; Ord. No. 17777, 1, 8-14-84; Code 1980, § 55-62; Ord. No. 19435, § 1, 6-26-90; Ord. No. 20437, § 3, 10-17-95; Ord. No. 22502, § 3, 8-3-04; Ord. No. 24966, § 3, 9-9-14; Ord. No. 25793, § 6, 2-21-17, eff. 12-31-17; Ord. No. 27048, § 3, 4-26-22, eff. 6-1-22; Ord. No. 27272, § 11, 1-31-23)
Source: City of Oklahoma City, Municipal Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/ok/oklahoma_city/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=OKMUCO2020_CH55UT_ARTIICIWASE_DIV4RACHBIGECOPR_S55-62USCHINOUCIFetched: 10/28/2026