VT Training | Setting the Right Rates for Your System

Description: Water and wastewater systems have a variety of priorities that proper rate setting can help achieve. In this workshop, we will explore how small water and wastewater systems can structure rates and price water and wastewater to recover the full cost of providing service today and into the future. In this workshop, we will also examine how rate setting can help systems meet multiple objectives and learn to assess the affordability of utility service to the low-income customer. Finally, we will learn how to calculate financial metrics and use them to assess your system’s fiscal health.

Learning Objectives:

• Develop rate-setting objectives
• Determine the cost of providing water service
• Anticipate changes in revenues year-to-year by changes in use
• Measure the affordability of rates for all of your customers
• Create rate structures that reflect your rate-setting objectives
• Understand how to calculate and use financial benchmarks to assess the fiscal health of your system

Trainer: Anna Patterson, Project Director; and Alicea Easthope-Frazer, Project Director, Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina

Cost: Complimentary.

Continuing Education Units: This course has been pre-approved for 6.0 TCHs for Water and Wastewater Operators by Vermont DEC. 

Who Should Attend:

• Managers, owners, and operators of water systems serving less than 10,000 people, or wastewater systems with an average daily flow of less than 1 million gallons
• Decision-makers for water and wastewater utilities, including mayors, finance officers, utility managers, public works directors, city councilors, board members, tribal council members, and clerks
• Consultants and technical assistance providers serving water and wastewater systems