Council Eases Penalties on Water Usage : Conservation: Interim charges reflect a greater availability of water. Permanent rates are expected to be approved this summer.

The Beverly Hills City Council has taken its first step toward reducing the stiff penalties it had imposed on residents and businesses for excessive water use during the drought.

The council on Thursday approved an interim measure reducing to $3 per unit the penalty to users who exceed their allotment of water. Abusers had been charged $4.50 to $7.50 per unit depending on how much they exceeded their allotment. A unit is about 748 gallons.

The new rate applies to water used during the two-month billing period before May 1 and will appear on bills going out from May 1 to June 30.

The interim plan includes what the city calls a “safe harbor” provision for residents who were already conserving water in 1989, said Don Oblander, the city’s director of finance. If a single-family residence does not reduce its water consumption by 20% from its 1989 use, but still uses less than 57 units, the household automatically avoids the penalty.

Although water use varied from 25 to 500 units for single-family dwellings in 1989, the average was 82 units, Oblander said.

If a household exceeds 57 units, residents may still avoid the penalty if they meet their conservation target and reduce their water consumption by 20% from their 1989 usage.

Multifamily complexes can avoid the $3 penalty if they do not exceed 14 units per dwelling or save 20% from 1989 usage. Commercial and industrial establishments can avoid the penalty if they do not exceed 57 units or they save 20%.

The new rates are a response to the greater availability of water since the March rains, city officials said. The city’s supplier of water, the Metropolitan Water District, lifted its water-use restrictions April 1 in favor of a voluntary 10% reduction. MWD had fined the city last year for excessive water use, and the city in turn penalized residents who used more than 80% of their 1989 consumption.

The council is expected to take up water-rate issues again in May, after the Public Works Commission comes back to the council with a recommendation for new rates. The permanent rates will be effective with the July 1 billing. The commission is expected to take into consideration MWD rate increases that go into effect July 1 and conservation incentives.