Determining the exact annual rate is difficult, as it's not expressed simply in one location, other than your monthly bill. CPUC approves the annual rates for a three year period based on a complex formula, including COLA (Cost Of Living Adjustment), but the during the period the water company can petition CPUC for adjustments, for a variety of reasons. These adjustments are difficult to identify and include in the graph, but are usually increases.
The following charts shows the actual data used in the graph. It should be noted that the difference in the "cumulative % of the rate vs. inflation" has gone from 2004 - 12.97% to 2011 - 26.71%, this sample from 2004 to 2011 that rate at which water rates increased by slightly better than double the inflation rate. We can forecast the water rates may approach five times or more the inflation rate in 2015. This represents a significant burden on middle class home owners and seniors on fixed incomes.
To make the information a bit clearer. The SJWC Annual Rate increases were taken from the annual reports that are on the SJW Corp. and SJWC websites. The data was checked against SEC Edger database reports as well as CPUC data. US economy annual inflation data can be found at http://www.inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Rate/HistoricalInflation.aspx .
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