Setting small drinking water system rates for a sustainable future : one of the simple tools for effective performance (STEP) guide series

This simple and practical guide is designed to help owners, operators, and managers of community water systems (CWSs) serving 3,300 or fewer persons understand the full cost of providing a safe and adequate supply of drinking water to their customers and how to set water rates that reflect those costs. It will be useful for publicly or privately owned entities whose primary business is providing drinking water.
This guide will help to determine how much money needs to be collected annually from customers through water rates to fully cover expenses and to ensure that the system has the capacity to operate effectively and efficiently now and in the future.
It shows, concise and to-the-point, in seven steps how 1) to determine the full cost of doing business by calculating the costs, 2) to determine the current revenues, 3) to consider the reserve requirements to ensure enough funds to cover the asset rehabilitation and repair costs as well as unexpected costs during the coming 5 years, 4) to calculate how much money it is necessary to collect from customer charges to cover the costs and fully fund the reserve account, 5) to evaluate appropriate rate structures and design an appropriate rate, 6) to implement the rates, and 7) to review the rates and make changes when appropriate. This guide is designed initially for planning financially for 5 years, but provides guidance for planning further ahead.