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Current Blog Posts
Economic Climate and Utility Financial Health
Sarah Royster is a graduate student with the UNC School of Public Health pursuing a Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering. She works as a Research Assistant with the Environmental Finance Center. Economic decline in the…
Getting to Yes? Energy Efficiency Loan Programs in the Southeast
Jen Weiss is a Finance Analyst at the Environmental Finance Center. Yes, energy efficiency is the low hanging fruit of the energy world. And yes, the southeastern United States has even been referred to as…
Financial Health: Running Treatment at Capacity
Dayne Batten is a Research Assistant for the EFC and second year MPA student at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Government. Traditional engineering plans suggest that, when customer demand approaches the maximum daily capacity of a…
Wetland Program Plans as a Sustainable Finance Tool
Glenn Barnes is a senior project director at the Environmental Finance Center at The University of North Carolina and is director of the Sustainable Finance for Wetland Programs project. EPA is encouraging all states and…
The Role of Economic Regulation in Influencing Financial Practices
Jeff Hughes is the Director of the Environmental Finance Center. Ask any utility manager to list the top business drivers and the “R-word”, Regulation, is likely to be near the top. Given the financial implications…
The Lone Star State and Water Finance: The 2012 Texas Municipal Water and Wastewater Rates Dashboard
David Tucker is a Project Director for the Environmental Finance Center. Texas, the Lone Star State, is the second largest state in the union, and the second most populous. That means a lot of thirsty…
Cost-Indexed Rate Increases
Guest author Peiffer Brandt is the Chief Operating Officer at Raftelis Financial Consultants. “Patrick Cannon… voted twice against raising our water fee. That means a lot for senior citizens, families, and individuals on fixed income. …
Are operating revenues declining for local government-owned water utilities? Evidence from six states.
Shadi Eskaf is a Senior Project Director for the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina. Previous blog posts (here and here) discussed the fact that per capita water consumption is declining. The…