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Water Rates and Data Management

In this section, municipal officials and water suppliers will find guidance for using water pricing and data as effective levers of water conservation.

Table of Contents

The Challenge

Water pricing is tricky business, as it requires balancing many goals.  The water industry has come a long way in developing pricing structures that:

  • Better match prices to the true cost of providing water;
  • Promote water conservation;
  • Help shift demand away from peak times to reduce stress on the system or environment;
  • Stabilize revenue in the face of reduced demand and weather variability; and
  • Protect the affordability of water for basic needs.

For these results, utilities need detailed knowledge about their costs, customer use patterns, and trends likely to affect the future of their system.  They also need to communicate this information to elected officials and rate payers to help their communities develop solutions that match their needs.

The resources here are designed to help with all of the above.  They are broken into two subsections:

Resources

What are the experiences of Massachusetts suppliers with rate setting?

What are the important lessons learned about rate setting from MA water suppliers?

What Detailed Guidance is Available on Water Rate Setting?

What Rate-Setting Tools are Available to Help me with Rate Setting?

More content for Water Suppliers and Municipal Officials:

Toolkit - Site Map  > Municipalities  > Suppliers and Water Commissioners

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