AUSTIN (KXAN) – Some residents in south Travis County reported receiving notices from their water provider indicating rates would more than double by the end of the month.
Alayna White said last week she went to get the mail and found a thick packet from Aqua Texas, her water provider. After thumbing through the packet, she read that her rate would increase by 100% on July 25.
“It was a lot of paperwork, and it was very confusing for the average customer. I did not understand it. I just saw the huge increase,” White said. “I felt angry because it was a month’s notice, and it’s not a reasonable amount to increase all at once.”
White said her water bill right now is around $150 a month, and that if the rate increase goes into effect, it’ll rise to around $300 a month.
“We can’t afford this increase,” White said.
In a statement to KXAN, Aqua Texas confirmed it’s implementing a base rate adjustment for all its customers statewide. While the company didn’t dispute White’s experience, it said most customers will see a rate increase of 20-30%.
The utility provider said the rate hike is necessary to “continue to modernize and upgrade our water and wastewater treatment plants, wells, pipelines, and related infrastructure.”
“The rate request filed on June 20, 2025 is Aqua Texas’ first request for a statewide water and wastewater base rate change in 20 years. The request is asking for recovery of nearly $700 million in infrastructure investments already made between 2004 and the end of 2024, and highlights Aqua’s commitment to improving reliability and service for its customers across the state of Texas,” the statement continued.
White is encouraging other customers to protest the rate increase so that it can get a public hearing before the Public Utility Commission, or PUC.
Aqua Texas’ last rate change proposal rejected in January
Earlier this year, PUC denied Aqua Texas’ proposal to raise customers’ rates with a system improvement charge, money that would go towards improving water infrastructure. That rate increase would have impacted all Aqua Texas customers across the state.
“This is another case where the applicant did not meet the burden of proof,” said PUC Chairman Thomas J. Gleeson at the commission’s Jan. 31 meeting.
Environmental attorney Lauren Ice represented the Watershed Association and environmental groups, which opposed the system improvement charge when Aqua Texas initially proposed it.
“What we found when we started looking into that rate application was that it was disorganized. It was not tied to particular projects, and it was really difficult to discern,” Ice said. “The [Administrative Law Judges] agreed with us, [and] the Public Utility Commission ultimately agreed with the [Administrative Law Judges] and found that the application was just completely unsupported.”
There have already been 1,200 parties that have protested the current rate change, Ice said.
“I am hopeful that this will go to a hearing,” she continued. “There is a lot of public interest in this particular application.”
