What is the Arizona Water & Wastewater Rates Dashboard?
This interactive rates and financial benchmarking dashboard is designed to assist utility managers, finance directors, Board members, local officials, reporters, and customers in comparing their utility's residential water and wastewater rates against multiple characteristics, including utility finances, system size, customer base demographics, and geography. Rates data for this dashboard are drawn from the 2017 Drinking Water and Wastewater Residential Rate Survey conducted by the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona, who underwrote the project, and the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
This year, the rates dashboard includes a brand new Financial Benchmarks Tab which displays four dials corresponding to key financial performance indicators for the chosen utility's water and/or wastewater enterprise fund(s). Other new features include new comparison groups (Same Ownership Type; Same Congressional District).
Comparison Groups
2017 residential rates for utilities across Arizona can be compared with:
- All other utilities in the State,
- Utilities of the same size,
- Utilities with similar operating revenues,
- Utilities in the same watershed,
- Utilities with the same water source type,
- Utilities in the same congressional district,
- Utilities in the same regional council of government area,
- Utilities with the same ownership type,
- Utilities with the same rate structure,
- Utilities that serve communities with similar income levels, and
- Utilities within 25, 50, or 100 miles.
You can compare rates for 0 to 15,000 gallons/month at 500 gallon intervals.
You can also raise rates by up to 100% and observe the (hypothetical) effects on the utility's rates, revenues and rate affordability.
Key Financial Indicators
The following measures for the selected utility are compared to key indicators or to the utilities within the selected comparison group:
- Monthly water/wastewater bills,
- Conservation pricing signal,
- Operating ratio (including depreciation), and
- Monthly bill as % Median Household Income for the service community.
On the Financial Benchmarks tab, 4 key financial performance indicators are displayed for your utility, calculated from data reported on your utility's audited financial statements. The indicators include:
- Operating ratio with depreciation
- Operating ratio without depreciation
- Debt service coverage ratio
- Days cash on hand
Track how your bills compare to others at the low, average and high end of residential consumption.
View a recording of a webinar demonstrating how to use theArizona Water and Wastewater Rates Dashboard (September2014)
Demonstration of the Arizona Water and Wastewater Rates Dashboard:
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ReportArizona Water and Wastewater Rates Report - 2017Fri, 09/15/2017Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA), Environmental Finance Center (EFC) -
PowerpointBenchmarking Rates and Financial Health in ArizonaThu, 10/31/2013David Tucker, Lexi Kay Herndon -
TablesTables of Water and Sewer Rates and Rate Structures in Arizona as of May 2014Fri, 08/29/2014Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA), Environmental Finance Center (EFC) -
PowerpointTips for Assessing and Improving the Fiscal Health of Small Regulated Water Utilities in ArizonaFri, 12/18/2015Jeff Hughes , Rich Armstrong, Ray Jones
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PowerpointWebinar: Benchmarking Water and Wastewater Rates in ArizonaThu, 09/24/2015David Tucker
Rates data: The rates for the Texas Dashboard were collected from utilities by the Texas Municipal League. Each utility's rates are standardized to monthly billing and thousands of gallons for the purposes of fair comparison on the Dashboard.
Demographic data: The American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2012-2016) from the US Census Bureau
System characteristics, such as number of connections and water source type: Environmental Protection Agency's Safe Drinking Water Information System
Geographic: United States Geological Survey
If your utility is not included on your state’s dashboard, it may be that a rate sheet was not received during the survey collection period, or clarifying questions went unanswered.
By utilizing the “Edit Data or Add Utility” button on the upper right corner of the Dashboard, you can temporarily compare your water and wastewater rates against other utilities. Please note that data are only available locally and will not be saved within the Dashboard.
If you were not contacted for rates by the EFC, please reach out to Annalee Harkins with your utility’s name and contact information for future surveys.
Please contact Annalee Harkins. We will do our best to update your rates as soon as possible!
Data can be edited temporarily by utilizing the “Edit Data or Add Utility” button located in the upper right corner of the Dashboard. Please note that data are only available locally and will not be saved within the Dashboard.
Dials such as “Cost Recovery” and “Affordability” rely on supplemental data in making calculations. When supplemental data is not available for a utility, the message is displayed and the dial is blanked out.
Each dial has a “?” button which shows how the dial is calculated, the data used in the calculation, and a brief explanation of the dial’s purpose.
Please send a data request to Annalee Harkins.
Rates Dashboards are primarily funded through contracts with state and Federal governments. If you are interested in a Rates Dashboard for your state, please contact Annalee Harkins.
Dashboards with annual contracts such as NC and GA are updated approximately the same time each year. Other states are updated on a per-contract basis.
Utilities may send corrections if their rates are incorrectly displayed on the dashboard. These corrections are implemented on a quarterly basis.
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