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What is the Hawai'i Water Rates Dashboard?
This interactive Rates Dashboard is designed to assist utility managers and local officials analyze residential water rates of Hawai'i's utilities against multiple characteristics, including system characteristics, customer base socioeconomic conditions, and geography. The EFC and the Hawai'i Safe Drinking Water Branch of the Department of Health collected and analyzed water rate structures for approximately 35 service providers in Hawai'i.
July 2016 residential water rates for 35 utilities (39 rate structures) across Hawai'i can be compared with:
- All other utilities in the State,
- Utilities with a similar number of accounts,
- Utilities with a similar service population,
- Utilities in the same county,
- Utilities with the same water source type,
- Utilites with the same water treatment type,
- Utilities with the same ownership type,
- Utilities using the same rate structure,
- Utilities with similar customer income,
- Utilities within 10 miles distance, and
- Utilities within 25 miles distance.
The following measures for the selected utility are compared to key indicators or to the utilities within the selected comparison group:
- Monthly water bill for the selected consumption amount,
- Monthly bill for as % Median Household Income for the community,
- Conservation pricing signal, and
- Ratio of operating revenues to operating expenses (when available).
You can compare the monthly bill charged for any consumption level from 0 gallons/month 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.
In addition, system financial health and customer demographic profiles are provided for utilities where data are available.
The Rates Dashboard is one of several products (including the summary report, data tables, and utility rate sheet summaries) created at the conclusion of the annual survey.
View a video tutorial on how to use a 2010-version of a similar state dashboard:
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PowerpointHawai'i Rates Dashboard WebinarTue, 09/19/2017Glenn Barnes, Annalee Harkins, Evan Kirk -
ReportReport of Water Rates and Rate Structures in Hawai'i - July 2016Fri, 08/18/2017Environmental Finance Center (EFC), Hawaii Safe Drinking Water Branch -
TablesTables of Water Rates and Rate Structures in Hawaii as of July 2016Tue, 08/15/2017Annalee Harkins, Evan Kirk
Rates data: The EFC and the Hawai’i Safe Drinking Water Branch of the Department of Health collected and analyzed water rate structures for approximately 35 service providers in Hawai'i. 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
We strive to include as many utilities in our surveys as possible, maintaining a minimum response rate of at least 80% of rate-charging utilities in each state. 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.
However, by utilizing the “Edit Data or Add Utility” button in the upper right corner of the Dashboard, you can temporarily compare your water rates against the existing utilities on the Dashboard. Please note that data are only available locally and will not be saved within the Dashboard.
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 Glenn Barnes.
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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