Halifax Water projects an operating deficit of $18 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year, and the utility wants to offset that with a rate hike.

The main factors in the cost are “salaries and wages, energy, chemicals, depreciation, and debt servicing,” according to the utility’s 2024-25 business plan.

Halifax Water will apply to raise the rate with the utility review board later this year, Acting General Manager Kenda MacKenzie told Halifax Regional Council on Tuesday.

The projected deficit last year was $2.3 million, but in December, the utility already had a surplus of $3.6 million.

That means the 2024-25 budget plans for a deficit increase of $16.4 million compared to the previous year.

The most recent rate hike happened in April 2023, when rates for average residential families increased by about 3.6 per cent, according to the utility’s website.