Blog
Current Blog Posts
Pricing and Revenues: A Challenging Relationship
Jeff Hughes is the Director of the Environmental Finance Center and the Principal Investigator for the Water Research Foundation project mentioned in the post. A recent report estimated that water utilities across the country will…
QECBs: A Cheaper Way for Local Governments to Fund Energy Efficiency (and Renewable) Projects
Michael Chasnow is a Finance Analyst with the Environmental Finance Center. Qualified energy conservation bonds (QECBs) are an exciting tool that states, counties and cities can use to cheaply finance energy efficiency and renewable energy…
Public Fire Service Water Charges – On the Water Bill or on the Tax Roll?
Guest author Susan Ancel is the Director of Water Distribution and Transmission with EPCOR Water Services Inc. Recently, EPCOR Water Services Inc. (EPCOR) (in conjunction with its Regulator, the City of Edmonton…
Applying the Revenueshed Concept: Watershed Protection in a North Carolina River Basin
The above graphic illustrates one of the main challenges of watershed protection: jurisdictional and watershed boundaries rarely align. This issue generates questions about who is responsible for, and who should pay for, watershed protection. Over…
The Success Story of One Water Utility’s Financial Policies
Guest author Peiffer Brandt is Chief Operating Officer at Raftelis Financial Consultants. “With our concerted conservation efforts, our focus on local water supply development, and the recession . . . we’re selling a lot less water…
All A-board! Strategies to Get Your Board on Track with Financial Policies
Mary Tiger is the Chief Operating Officer for the Environmental Finance Center and Project Manager for the Water Research Foundation Project. Making the way to financial sustainability can feel like an uphill battle for utilities…
Big Power: Duke Energy’s Progress
Casey Wichman is an Environmental Economics Analyst with the Environmental Finance Center. In case you haven’t heard, the merger between Duke and Progress energy was approved, making it the largest power utility in the United…
Why Energy Efficiency Matters
Michael Chasnow is a Finance Analyst with the Environmental Finance Center. At the EFC, we do a lot of work on energy efficiency and renewable energy (EERE) lending programs — from designing community energy finance…