Public Enterprise Revenue and Rate Trends Jeff Hughes Environmental Finance Center School of Government University of North Carolina

Presentation The Enterprises Water Wastewater Stormwater Electricity A dash of trash… The Outline State of rates State of revenues Notable trends

State of Rates Water and Wastewaterhttp://efc.unc.edu/RatesDashboards/ nc.htmlhttp://efc.unc.edu/RatesDashboards/ nc.html Stormwater Electricity shboard.htm shboard.htm

Trends Revenue increases Attention to fixed vs. variable revenue Decreasing sales Rate increases More attention on role of municipal utilities

Billed Water (MGD) Trends

The challenge of driving revenue increases through rate increases : HH rate versus revenues increases (2004 to 2010) Preliminary Results Data analysis by the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina. Data sources: 2010 and 2004 RFC/AWWA Water and Wastewater Rates Survey Data for 82 Utilities

Fixed versus variable Data analyzed by the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina. Data source: Each utility’s customer billing records, project funded by NC Urban Water Consortium

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Water and Sewer Revenues Fixed versus variable Data sources: Mickey Hicks, CFO, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities

Annual Rate Increases

Outside service getting more attention

Do prices reflect the true cost of water?