RATES & FINANCE

• Multiple Financial & Rate Resources & Tools

  Environmental Finance Center

  A list of resources related to water finance.

• SC Rates Dashboard

  Environmental Finance Center

  This dashboard is designed to assist utility managers and local officials with benchmarking residential water and wastewater rates against multiple attributes, including system characteristics, customer base socioeconomic conditions, and geography.

• Capital Improvement Planning Tool

  Environmental Finance Center

  Enter in all capital projects and this tool will project your fund balance (revenues, expenses and reserves), and necessary rate increases for the next 20 years, and more. Data entry requirements are minimal. Intended for small and medium systems.

• SC Water & Sewer Rates

  RIA

  RIA conducts an annual water and sewer rate survey to collect data for its SRF credit review function in the loan programs. The survey only covers “inside” residential rates but includes the majority of public water and sewer providers in South Carolina.

• The 4-1-1 on Financing: Strategies & Support for Small Water & Wastewater Systems (podcast)

  Environmental Law Institute

  Access to Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN) podcasts on permits, water, wastewater, and more.

• Financial Technical Assistance Tools for Water Infrastructure

  USEPA

  Tools and resources from the Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center.

• The Basics of Financial Management for Small Community Utilities

  RCAP

  The Basics of Financial Management for Small Community Utilities is a how-to guide to ensuring your utility is operated as a financially sustainable enterprise.

• Budgeting & Financial Management

  RCAP

  A list of resources related to Budgeting & Financial Management.

• Rate Setting & Affordability

  RCAP

  A step-by-step guide on setting rates for your water system, conducting rate studies, and more.

• Guide to Conducting a Rate Study for a Small System

  RCAP

  Information related to rate setting and conducting a rate study for a small system.

AFFORDABILITY

• Rate Affordability Assessment Tool

  Environmental Finance Center

  An interactive tool that uses Census data on a selected community in order to assess the relative affordability of the utility’s water and wastewater rates on its residential customers using multiple metrics.

• Water Affordability Self Assessment

  Southwest Environmental Finance Center

  A tool to assess whether rates are affordable for a specific location according to several different measures, including median household income, percentage of population at or below the poverty level, and the number of hours at minimum wage needed to pay the bill.