Rising Water Bills in Prince Edward County Risk Becoming an Affordability Crisis

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A Picton family recently opened their municipal water bill and were stunned: $742 for a single billing period. Having moved from the GTA five years ago, they noted this one bill was more than their entire annual water cost back in the city. “This is going to be an issue in the next election,” the resident warned. “Something is wrong and needs to be fixed.”

This isn’t an isolated frustration. Across Prince Edward County (PEC), households connected to municipal water systems in Picton, Wellington, Bloomfield, and Ameliasburgh are paying some of the highest water and wastewater rates in Ontario.

“My family just received our County Water bill for an outrageous amount of $742 to access extremely chemically treated water from Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes. Having moved to the area 5 years ago from GTA, this one bill is more than we paid in a year. This is going to be an issue with the next election, so I suggest that something is wrong and needs to be fixed.”

Broader context: Funds to subsidize water bills

Canadians suffer while the Liberal government has committed nearly $22 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, including over $12.4 billion in financial support, making it the largest per capita financial contribution among G7 countries. For comparison, Ontario’s healthcare budget in 2024 was $84 billion.

It is appalling that municipality ratepayers have to deal with crater potholes, unacceptable healthcare wait times, exorbitant property taxes and ridiculous deficits when our governments spend recklessly on distant wars and corrupt contracts like $59.5 million on the ArriveCan App. For the record MP Chris Mallete voted against recovering the amount paid to ArriveCAN contractor, GCStrategies Inc. Imagine that. You can see the voting record here.

We welcome a response from Mr. Mallete on why he voted against recovering the funds from the ArriveCAN contractor. We will publish Mr. Malette’s response.

Imagine what Prince Edward County could do with $59.5 million. Perfect roads, a brand new community center with an Olympic size pool, NO wait times at emergency, all of us would have family doctors, a brand new center for kids, awesome after school programs for our kids, millions for women’s programs. And ZERO water bills. Imagine that. Instead they let this corrupt contractor keep your money.

How PEC Compares to Other Municipalities

Provincial rate comparisons highlight just how out of line PEC is with its peers:

Prince Edward County: The average combined household water/wastewater bill in 2023 was $2,157 per year (about $180/month). Many households report bills well above $700 per billing cycle.
Belleville: $1,227 per year (Ontario Water Works Association data, 2023).
Kingston: $1,148 per year.
Toronto: $1,088 per year (average household consumption of 230 m³ annually).
Hamilton: $1,340 per year.

PEC residents are paying nearly double what urban households pay in larger cities with more infrastructure and higher-quality service delivery.

The reason is structural: the County has fewer than 6,000 water customers but must operate multiple treatment plants and pumping stations, all under provincial rules requiring “full cost recovery.” In effect, residents directly fund capital upgrades and operating costs without the scale advantages of larger municipalities. For example, one estimate for the massive Base 31 development in Picton states that the Developers may owe the County as much as $36 million for their project. There is no information on how or when the County will collect these fees and yet the County has begun to use existing taxpayer funds to build the infrastructure for these developments.

Double Hit: Water Bills and Property Taxes

The sting of water bills comes alongside steep increases in property taxes. In 2024, County Council approved an 8.9% increase, one of the steepest in Ontario. For many households, monthly water charges are now equal to or greater than their monthly property tax instalments.

For a fixed-income senior couple in Picton, the combined burden can exceed $5,000 annually just for water and property taxes — before utilities, food, or housing costs. For working families, it is another affordability barrier in a community where housing costs have already surged.

Infrastructure Plans Driving Costs

The County’s infrastructure plans show why costs will continue rising:

Picton Master Servicing Plan (MSP): Identifies major water, wastewater, stormwater, and transportation upgrades in the Picton/Bloomfield area to support growth. These will require tens of millions in new spending.
Transportation Master Plan (TMP): Aims to modernize Picton’s network for walking and tourism, but will come with high capital costs that compete for municipal dollars.
Asset Management Plan: PEC must finance the upkeep of 1,046 km of roads and other assets while also planning for water and wastewater facilities nearing end-of-life.
Wellington Water Plant Expansion: Expected to cost over $100 million. Designed to support future growth, it will be financed largely by development charges and user rates, but residents will shoulder much of the debt.

Even with developer funding tools, residents are exposed. Rate models assume growth will offset costs, but if growth slows, today’s households could see water bills climb beyond $3,000 annually within five years.

What Can Be Done?

The affordability crisis is not inevitable. Several paths could reduce pressure on ratepayers:

Provincial and Federal Grants
Water/wastewater plants should be treated like highways or hospitals: essential infrastructure that merits higher-level government support. The federal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program has funded similar projects in other regions. Local leaders must demand PEC be prioritized.
Fairer Rate Structures
Council should review whether fixed service charges (which are among the highest in Ontario) can be adjusted to ease burdens on small households. More equitable allocation between base charges and consumption would reduce extremes like $742 bills.
Growth Pays for Growth
The proposed “use it or lose it” clause for developer allocations is vital. Residents must not subsidize speculative projects that sit idle. Development charges should fully recover growth-related costs.
Operational Efficiencies
The County can cut long-term costs by investing in energy-efficient pumps and treatment processes, exploring shared service agreements with neighbours, and applying a climate change lens to avoid costly retrofits later.
Transparency
Residents deserve plain-language reporting on why rates are so high, where money is going, and how Council plans to stabilize costs. Clear communication is as important as engineering.

A Call to Leadership

Council, along with MPP Tyler Allsopp (Bay of Quinte) and MP Chris Malette (Bay of Quinte), must treat this as more than just a budgetary issue. It is an urgent affordability crisis.

If left unaddressed, water and wastewater rates — compounded by rising property taxes — will drive families away, burden seniors, and dominate the next municipal and provincial election cycles.

Prince Edward County cannot continue to operate on a model where households pay the highest water bills in Ontario while essential infrastructure costs keep climbing. It is time for leadership at every level of government to step in, secure external funding, and put affordability first.

Because water is not a luxury. For PEC residents, it is quickly becoming unaffordable.