SANDPOINT — For residents who receive a huge water bill from the city due to an excess water leak, there is hope.

Sandpoint City Council approved a water leak adjustment policy during Wednesday's council meeting that will allow residents to have their water bill adjusted if a leak occurs through no fault of the customer. Under the new policy, customers can request a water adjustment every 48 months and adjustments are made based on each individual customer's normal usage.

To qualify for the adjustment, the leak must be at 1,000 percent of the customer's normal usage. Residential customers are on a tiered rate system and adjustments result in a charge for all water usage at 50 percent of the lowest tier rate for excess usage. The lowest tier is 0-3000 gallons at $2.88 per 1,000 gallons used. At the fourth and highest tier, over 40,000 gallons, the cost is $5.87 per 1,000 gallons.

The average water usage for a residential customer is 3,452 gallons at the cost of $10.10 per month. A 1,000 percent increase would be 34,520 gallons at $126.48. The adjusted amount the customer would pay is $54.83, a savings of more than $70.

The city has six to 10 leak customers per year, city finance director and treasurer Shannon Syth said in an email to the Daily Bee. The new policy will allow the city to help more people at a greater level, she said.

“Leaks normally occur in the winter when pipes freeze or in the spring when the pipes thaw,” Syth said. “Especially homes that are vacant during the winter months.”

She said those customers would be covered by the policy.

Customers will be required to pay their normal monthly bill amount during the review and inspection process. Additionally, customers must be in good standing to make an adjustment request — the current monthly bill must be paid in full. Syth said these stipulations are intended to keep customers from finding themselves in a difficult financial situation.

Other stipulations of the policy include repairs to be made within 48 hours, and proof of repair or a city technician inspection showing that repair was made must be provided within 30 days.

Syth said the previous policy set greater limits for excess usage to qualify and only allowed one leak adjustment per customer while the new one set smaller limits and allows adjustment every 48 months. Customers who qualified were charged the lowest tier rate rather than 50 percent of that amount.