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A new report issued by the Johnson Foundation called Financing Sustainable Water Infrastructure concludes that the financial health of our water systems is directly linked to their long-term sustainability.
Frequent readers of our blog will know that we often discuss the gap that exists between the need for capital investment in the water/wastewater sector, and the availability of both the necessary capital as well as the ability to repay debt. Indeed, our most recent blog post, Water Rate Affordability (Dec. 26, 2011), presents a [...]
A common complaint from water and sewer utility customers – in fact one of if not THE top complaint – is that the rates are just too high. StepWise created a Google RSS feed (shown on our home page) that attests to these complaints on a daily basis. On an average day, we see at [...]
the Institute for Public Utilities at Michigan State is one of the foremost authorities on issues related to public utilities in the world. Earlier in November, the Institute released an excellent paper by Dr. Janice Beecher called “Primer on Water Pricing”. The paper is available from the Institute’s website but I’ve also included it here [...]
So much has been said about our nation’s failing water infrastructure that another blog post would hardly do the topic justice. We’ve done plenty of them here already (here, for example). There have been many who have done well to help us identify the problem, and the problem is an imminently solvable one. We know [...]
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has agreed to review its regulations that would require New York City to install a 90-acre cover over one of its reservoirs at a cost of $1.6 billion. Mayor Bloomberg complained about the unfunded mandate and Jackson promptly responded by sending a letter to Senator Charles Schumer saying she agreed that [...]
If you’ve followed the recent history of Illinois American Water Co. on this blog, you would know that recent rate case filings at the ICC (Illinois Commerce Commission) have been met with a whole lot of public opposition. The company has been attempting to increase its rates in virtually all of its subsidiary service areas, [...]
Readers of this blog know by now that the financial impact of water and sewer infrastructure needs in local communities is a big one. For moderately sized utilities, the impact is big enough, for very small utilities, the impacts can be completely unmanageable as seen in the below linked article from The News Star in [...]
Water and wastewater utilities in the public sector are often under fire for increasing rates, but strong financial health is becoming more and more important in today’s changing credit markets. Access to credit for utilities is as vital as it is to any business, and maybe more so due to the capital intensive nature of [...]
StepWise Utility Advisors was honored today to lecture at the Wyoming Association of Municipalities hosted this year in Sheridan, Wyoming. Our workshop, entitled Ahead of the Curve: Beating the Infrastructure Funding Gap with Sustainable Management Practices is a detailed discussion that offers municipal water and sewer utility owners with tangible steps for producing sustainable financial [...]
I came across an excellent paper on utility economics the other day during some internet research. The paper stands out for its focus on regulation of natural monopoly businesses, which specifically include water and sewer utilities. Natural monopolies are defined as an industry where a single firm can produce output to supply the entire market [...]
The USEPA’s Community Water System Survey released in 2009 provides more evidence that private utilities do not provide services at a net benefit to customers. Although the survey shows that the actual cost is lower at private utilities than for public ones, those savings evaporate once private owner profits are considered. If you factor in [...]
The Kentucky PSC has decided to allow the Kentucky American Water Co. a 29% increase in its water rates. The average residential customer will see monthly bills increase from $27/mo to $35/mo, or about $96 per year. The PSC had considered this case for about 10 months. We first reported the filing on this blog [...]
Today, we’ve introduced our new channel on YouTube, which we will be using to provide a new video education series for our clients, blog readers, and anyone interested in learning more about the ins and outs of water and sewer utilities. Our first installment, “What is a Revenue Requirement”, is the perfect starting point for [...]
The following is a Q/A with one of our blog readers: Question: Jason, If we were to have debt for an expansion at the treatment plant, would we use the value of the expansion plus the total value of the debt in our SIF [impact fee/system development fee] calculation? Or would we do something different? [...]
Water utility rate consultants are in the business of helping their clients figure out how much the rates need to be adjusted. Once that first determination is made, the consultant is able to address other issues, like how to allocate costs to customers and develop equitable rates, but the first step is to know where [...]
It’s not that affordability hasn’t always been a concern, but a recent look at some important data now suggests that affordability has become a major concern for providers of water and sewer utility services in the US. For the first time since the 1950′s, personal income in the United States has experienced negative annual growth [...]
At last count (and still counting), the US Federal Budget deficit stands at $1.43 trillion, and the national debt is now $13.2 trillion. Those are big dollars, but the US is a mighty economic engine even in these recessionary times. Still, the national debt is now over 90% of the nation’s entire economic output for [...]
In the water and sewer utility, costs tend to pile up quick and they are seemingly endless if not formidable. As an industry, water and sewer utility services are among the most capital intensive anywhere. There are very few industries in the world where one has to invest so much capital to produce even the [...]
I recently participated in a brief discussion about potential rate impacts in Gary, IN. The gist of the story is that Gary, IN is facing some very large capital costs to separate its sewer system into two parts: one for sanitary sewer needs, and the other for storm water drainage. Currently, like many older cities [...]
For many months we have tracked the activities of private water companies in America through their requests for – most large – rate increases. We have an entire category on this blog dedicated to these activities listed under “privitization” on the right sidebar; give it a click to get some of the astounding history behind [...]
In these tough times, some cities and local governments are considering selling their water and sewer utilities to private concerns. USA Today ran a story on this recently: “Cities consider selling water, sewer systems for cash“. The issues raised in the USA Today story are interesting. As noted on this blog, we’ve seen at least [...]
The Illinois American Water Co. (subsidiary of much larger American Water Works Co. – AWK) is seeing new scrutiny from the Illinois Commerce Commission on its proposal for 30% increases in water rates for many Chicago-area utilities that it operates. The rate case has made its way to the ICC where Illinois Attorney General Lisa [...]
Eventually the piper must be paid. For municipal governments, balancing the budget is these days a constant concern and budget cuts are starting to hit core services as the recession plods along. In Washington, however, balanced budgets are not a concern, nor it seems is the staggering deficit that comes with massive spending programs that [...]
In a report published in February, the US Conference of Mayors is predicting that spending on water and wastewater systems will increase by by as much as four times. Depending on how fast the country’s population grows, spending could double, triple, or quadruple, according to the report. We’ve posted the full report here, which is [...]
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