Rate Setting, Long-Term System Planning, and Customer Assistance Program Training for Water and Wastewater Utilities in Washington

Water and wastewater rates should bring in enough revenue to cover the cost of providing service today and into the future. All utilities should prepare for inevitable future capital costs in their budgets. In this training, we will cover strategies and tools that can help water and wastewater utilities identify the revenues needed to cover operations, maintenance and capital costs, and how to set rates that would generate those revenues. Additionally, we will cover the topics of long term system planning and customer assistance program requirements and options in Washington State.

Topics Covered:

• Finance and Management
• Budgeting and Capital Improvements
• Rate Setting
• Asset Management
• Capital Planning for Infrastructure Needs
• Workforce planning
• Customer Assistance Programs
• Impacts of COVID-19

Objectives: The learning objectives are shown below:

• Understand how to calculate base and volumetric charges to dover the full cost of providing water service
• Demonstrate the impact of different pricing structures on different customers
• Understand how long term planning, including asset management and capital planning, can help a utility plan for repairs and fund infrastructure projects
• Understand how workforce planning can keep a utility healthy now and in the future
• Understand the variety of customer assistance programs that are possible and required in Washington State, including with the impact of Gov. Inslee’s proclamation.

Agenda:

9:00-9:10              Introduction to the Webinar Platform, the EFC Network, and the structure of the Webinar

9:10-10:00          Pricing Water for Full Cost of Recovery

10:00-10:10         Q&A and break

10:10-11:00        Long-term System Planning

11:00-11:15        Q&A and break

11:15-11:50         Workforce planning

11:50-12:00         Q&A and break

12:00-12:50         Customer Assistance Programs in Washington and Impacts from COVID-19

12:50-1:00          Final Q&A

**There will be at least 3 polls per 45-50 lecture session to record participation**