Four Words that Forward-Thinking Utilities Should Rethink

by Leslie Garren | Nov 13, 2019 | Communications and Outreach, Rates, Utility Management

Each quarter, the Oxford English Dictionary adds new and revised words to the official dictionary. The latest update included more than 650 new words, senses, and subentries, including: “fake news,” “xoxo,” and “Jedi mind trick.” Out of the roughly 172,000 words in...

What the 2019 North Carolina Rates Survey Data Can Do for You

by Annalee Harkins | May 28, 2019 | Affordability, Rates

Recently, the North Carolina Water and Wastewater Rates Dashboard was updated with 2019 data and the North Carolina Water and Wastewater Rates Report 2019 was published. Are you getting all you can out of these useful resources? As the start of the new fiscal year...

What’s Trending? A Look Into North Carolina Household Water Bills and the Income to Pay

by Austin Thompson | May 15, 2019 | Affordability, Financial Management, Rates

The 2019 North Carolina Water and Wastewater Rates Dashboard was deployed just over a month ago, marking another year in a long partnership between the Environmental Finance Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, the North Carolina League of Municipalities, and the North Carolina...

The Perils of Comparing Water Rates

by Glenn Barnes | Feb 13, 2019 | Financial Management, Rates

The Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducts surveys of water and sewer rates in many states across the country and turns those results into rates dashboards. In recent years, at least three news outlets in...

How Important was Water Pricing in Achieving Conservation Goals During the California Drought?

by Liz Harvell | Jan 15, 2019 | Financial Management, Rates, Risk and Resiliency to Climate Hazards

California’s severe drought and statewide conservation mandate provided an opportunity to analyze the effects of pricing strategies as a tool to curb water use. In 2015, the State Water Resources Control Board was charged with implementing a reduction of 25 percent on...

Can Households Afford Water and Wastewater Bills When Faced with Unexpected Expenses?

by Glenn Barnes | Jun 28, 2018 | Affordability, Financial Management, Rates

At the Environmental Finance Center, we think a lot about the affordability of environmental services such as drinking water and wastewater. When developing utilities we have to consider not only the cost of the system but also the affordability not water and...