San Marcos Boil Water Advisory Lifted, Plumbing Permit Fees Waived & No Increase in Electric Rates

Effective today, Sunday, February 21, 2021, the City of San Marcos has lifted the boil water advisory for all City of San Marcos water customers as testing has confirmed that our water is safe to drink.

As of yesterday afternoon, all City water system repairs were completed and pressure within the overall water distribution system stabilized to a level that allowed water samples to be collected per Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requirements.

These samples were then sent for laboratory testing and the results returned earlier today confirmed that no contamination had occurred.

San Marcos Electric Utility also completed all customer storm related repairs yesterday afternoon to return service to the last few customers who had localized outages.

Residents may return to normal electric and water consumption, but conservation of our resources is always encouraged.

No Increase in Electric Rates

Many residents are concerned about spikes in utility rates due to stories being reported in the state and national media. San Marcos Electric Utility (SMEU) is a municipal utility owned by the City of San Marcos, and rates are set by City ordinance in coordination with the City budget process.

There will be no increase in rates for SMEU customers at this time.

However, customer usage will likely be much higher than normal due to the nearly two weeks of extremely cold weather we have experienced, which may result in higher than normal bills this billing period.

Customer Connect Usage Information

If your usage graph in Customer Connect shows usage on days when you had no electricity, please note that this is how the information is displayed during a power interruption, but you are not being charged for electric usage during those times.

The San Marcos utility system retrieves information from your smart meter at regular intervals, and those daily readings can be seen in Customer Connect under the My Usage tab.

During a power interruption, those readings may not be available so the system estimates your daily usage, which can produce imprecise results in Customer Connect.

The system used to provide daily readings on graphs in Customer Connect is separate from the City’s billing system. The billing system uses only the total actual Kilowatt hours used at your meter at the end of your billing cycle.

Customers will only pay for the actual Kilowatts used during the billing cycle at their home or business so please keep this in mind as you review the Customer Connect usage information for the days you had no electricity.

Plumbing Permit Fees Waived

In order to relieve the financial burden on residents and businesses as a result of plumbing repairs made necessary by the winter storm event, the San Marcos City Council is temporarily waiving fees for permits associated with these repairs.

This temporary waiver is in effect through the end of day on Thursday, April 1, and will be considered for ratification by Council at their meeting on Wednesday, February 24.

In most cases, a plumbing permit will still be required for all repair work and may be applied for online, 24-hours-a-day at www.mygovernmentonline.org.

To find additional details about plumbing requirements and who may apply for the permit, visit www.sanmarcostx.gov/plumbing.

As temperatures have warmed up, the City’s temporary winter weather call center will be closed as of 8 p.m. today.

If you need to report a water issue at your home or business, email waterwastewaterinfo @sanmarcostx.gov or call 512.393.8010.

To report a power outage email poweroutinfo@sanmarcostx.gov or call 512.393.8313.