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Try Charlotte. We are in a drought so we get fined if we wash our car or water our lawn. As a result we have conserved so much that the water utility is not taking in enough money. My reward for being a good citizen is going to be higher water bills. Thats right. Even though I am using less I will be paying more. Is this a great city or what?

Problem was that the water company couldn't just raise its prices. That would have led to lower demand, but some people could have still washed their cars or watered their lawns.

I have a well. If I use too much water, then the well goes dry for a while.

Try Charlotte. We are in a drought so we get fined if we wash our car or water our lawn. As a result we have conserved so much that the water utility is not taking in enough money. My reward for being a good citizen is going to be higher water bills. Thats right. Even though I am using less I will be paying more. Is this a great city or what?

They also raised the "runoff" tax ... I guess we have too much rainwater running off our roofs during this drought.

Which is exactly what they have done with electric. They preach that you must cut back on usage, then they raise the rates because they not taking in enough money.

“Try Charlotte. We are in a drought so we get fined if we wash our car or water our lawn. As a result we have conserved so much that the water utility is not taking in enough money. My reward for being a good citizen is going to be higher water bills. Thats right. Even though I am using less I will be paying more. Is this a great city or what?”

In the Bay area we have had droughts and experienced the same thing. Use less the utility makes less so they charge more to sustain their bureaucracy rather than trying to cut back on their costs. The prime directive of a bureaucracy is to sustain itself and grow. Since they based your ration amount on usage in non-drought years we tried to use more water in those times. I wonder if you have anyone from California on the governing board of your water utility

We are in a drought so we get fined if we wash our car...

I think the fine applies to turning on the hose while washing a car. There are 'ways' around that.

I don't enjoy spending $4 or $5 for a drive-thru wash. It's a waste of money and a layer of dirt always remains. Try this - watch the local radar for rain. Wait for a real gully washer to move in. Fill a bucket with ONE gallon of steaming hot water and car wash detergent. Make some suds. After the first sprinkles wet the car, use a soft brush with the soapy water to knock off the dirt. Yeah, you might get a little wet but it's worth it.

Wiping down a car should take only a few minutes. Then, LET IT RAIN! A few leftover suds are no big deal. If you want it all off, drive the vehicle around the block.

Option #2 also includes radar and not getting wet. Take one gallon of hot, soapy water to the local car wash. On the drive over, allow the rain to wet the car. Pull up under the covered bay and wipe that car down with your soft brush. A power rinse costs $1. Or, just drive away and let the rain do it's work! Wanna MAKE money? Have a neighbor follow you down to your local car wash with TWO gallons of hot, soapy water. You can knock out a few cars and charge the second car $5 for labor. If they want a power rinse, that's $1 extra.

(Shhhhh. These are some of my best secrets. Please don't tell anyone...)

This happened in Spokane, WA. many years ago. Because of a drought situation, the local power company demanded people cut back on their use of electricity (due to the low water level in the reservoirs).

After a few months, the power company (with full backing of the city) raised their rates significantly to offset the money they say they lost from the decreased power usage.

Believe it or not, sometime later when the drought ended, the power company said it needed to raise electrical rates *again* because now there was too much water in the reservoirs.