Municipalities set water and sewer rates to produce revenue for recovery of facility construction costs and operating and maintenance expense. Of course, rates must be aligned with local ordinances but inflationary pressure can sometimes result in insufficient revenue for debt service and/or operation and maintenance (O&M) costs. Usually, when changes are necessary, rate studies are commissioned. On occasion, litigation is the reason studies are conducted. But no matter why a study is requested, the process is the same.

In concert with our client, we determine revenue requirements: how much cost must be recovered? What the cost of debt service? Of O&M? Is water being purchased from a third party? We then analyze the cost to provide service to various classes of customer, e.g., residential, commercial and industrial.

How quickly we complete a study depends heavily on the quality and form of information and the speed at which it is provided by the client. For this reason, it's almost impossible to generalize about time required for completion. In all cases, however, we can quickly assess the availability and quality of client information and provide an accurate timetable for our work.