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New Surveys of State Agencies and Water Utility Managers Significant challenges remain for parsing out regulatory responsibility and current practices in a new and evolving field, such as water and wastewater billing systems. In an effort to further document a range of possible regulatory scenarios, four surveys were developed targeting different groups of officials. The survey design also shed light on informational barriers and other challenges to policy implementation. Copies of survey instruments used are provided in Appendix A. This regulatory policy survey was completed in two parts. The first survey was conducted from October 2002 through January 2003 and queried state public utility commissions, state weights and measures officials, and state drinking water officials. The second survey, conducted from October 2003 through January 2004, queried water utility managers to determine their perspective on regulation and shed more light on communication between utilities and regulators in the area of water and wastewater billing. Each survey documents the perceptions of public officials regarding this issue. The methodology for each survey set follows. PUCs, Bureaus of Weights and Measures, and State Drinking Water Officials Surveying was conducted from October 2002 through January 2003. The survey method included contacting potential survey candidates via e-mail or fax with a cover letter requesting participation in the survey and the survey itself. A follow-up letter and another copy of the survey were e-mailed or faxed again if there was no response from the candidate after the first week. Additional follow-ups to non-responsive drinking water administrators were conducted over the phone. Because water billing systems can be regulated by different entities within a state, three of the most likely agencies were chosen as initial contacts: 1) Bureaus of Weights and Measures – State bureaus control how most commercial measuring devices are regulated. This body would potentially regulate submetering equipment. 2) State Public Utility Regulatory Commissions – in most states, private or investorowned water utilities are regulated by this entity, similar to traditional electric and gas utility regulation. In those states where a single commissioner or staff member was identified as having the lead on water utility regulation, that official received the survey. 218
3) State Drinking Water Officials– Although the US EPA maintains federal regulations to implement the Safe Drinking Water Act, nearly all states have "primacy" to oversee the implementation of the law by drinking water utilities within their borders. Three survey instruments were developed for these three regulatory agencies, each with general questions about billing systems, and agency specific questions. Table 7.3 is a summary of results from the initial e-mail/fax of the surveys as well as an e-mail/fax follow-up one-week later. A total of 156 surveys were sent out 29 returned. 34 The response rate for the first round of contact and follow-up was 18 percent. Table 7.3 Response rate to state agency regulatory surveys State Agency Surveys Sent Surveys Received Weights and Measures 53 6 PUCs 53 12 Drinking Water Officials 50 11 Of the surveys initially returned, the most detailed answers came from the Drinking Water Administrators. In the interest of maximizing the information yield of the survey within available time and funding, after the second round of contacts, all further follow-up was directed at the drinking water administrators, while surveys were obtained from other agencies within the state when specifically suggested by these Administrators, or as time allowed. Administrators were contacted by phone and the survey was given orally. At the end of the survey period, there were a total of 64 surveys received or interviews conducted. Water Utility Managers Survey To augment the previous studies and develop further background on the regulation on water and wastewater billing systems across the United States, an additional survey was directed to retail drinking water utility managers. The focus of the survey was utility-level regulations and incentives (if any) for multi-family billing systems. In order to get a meaningful sample of utility policies in this evolving field, the largest retail water utilities in the 100 largest US cities were targeted, along with those additional utilities supporting this study that did not meet the initial screening criteria. The 2002 US Census listing of the 100 largest US cities was matched with the names of utilities contained in 34 Includes the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia 219
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NATIONAL MULTIPLE FAMILY SUBMETERIN
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CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES............
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Matched-Pair Analysis .............
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LIST OF TABLES Table ES.1.1 Breakdo
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Table 6.6 Elasticity values, analys
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Figure 4.30 RUBS water bill #6 ....
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investigated local water savings as
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We are grateful to the members of a
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quantitative aspects of separate bi
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3. Owner/postcard survey: To identi
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"averages" of impact property water
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in-rent properties, others used the
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of these models included the billin
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70 Average Annual Water Use Per Uni
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COSTS AND BENEFITS Beyond quantifyi
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service charge, then the resident w
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Billing Method Efficient Fixtures?
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70 Avg. Water Use per MF Unit (kgal
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REGULATORY FRAMEWORK REVIEW The fra
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Table ES.1.12 NSUAA Summary of Stat
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above, the researchers offer the fo
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service is preferable, and would he
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practices (BMPs) should be implemen
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infrastructure of the building and
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multi-family housing. The transfer
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODU CTION More and mo
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In 1998, 15.0%, or 15.4 million, of
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TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS OF BILL
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submetering. With utility-submeteri
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all the two bedroom units for $20 p
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HOW TO USE THIS REPORT This report
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CHAPTER 2 LITERAT URE REVIEW As the
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A review of the literature unearthe
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The price elasticity of water deman
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expected. Additionally, McClelland
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submetered and five control (in-ren
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Another study might want to target
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CHAPTER 3 RESEARC H METHODS, APPROA
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1. Selection of participating study
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STUDY SITE SELECTION The Study aime
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Figure 3.2 National Multiple Family
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Matched pair protocol/survey - conf
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information given the available bud
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survey. Service companies that prov
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in “business to business” calli
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MATCHED PAIR SAMPLE The purpose of
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The second part of the visit requir
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epresentative of a known population
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51 Table 3.7 Postcard survey statis
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Table 3.8 Comparison of annual wate
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postcard survey. Nevertheless, exam
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confidence interval ranged from 49.
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particular property (e.g., the mont
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State PUC officials - water commiss
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10. The PROPID number appearing on
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These costs represent the commodity
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The postcard survey provided inform
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Table 4.4 Average number of units f
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Two-thirds of the properties that r
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Percent of Surveyed Properties with
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$700 Average Rent Per Bedroom ($) $
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Percent of Surveyed Properties with
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Impact properties were also more li
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Table 4.8 Issues considered before
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Percent of Surveyed Impact Properti
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60% Percent of Surveyed Properties
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From the visits, it was found that
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100% Percent of Surveyed Residents
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Roughly similar proportions of resi
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inserts for toilets (21%) or low-fl
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proportion were unsure, 37% from su
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Table 4.18 Ownership and rental rat
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Figure 4.17 Submeter water bill #1
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wastewater rates are not shown so t
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Figure 4.23 Hot water hybrid water
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RUBS Sample Bills Seven sample RUBS
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wastewater rates are not shown so t
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Figure 4.28 RUBS water bill #4 from
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Figure 4.30 RUBS water bill #6 RUBS
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directly to and then paid by the th
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never subtracting for common area w
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Late Fees At the start of water bil
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124
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intuitively clear, and matches comm
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Indoor water use was normalized on
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Table 5.3 Summarized water use anal
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easonable assumption since there is
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Figure 5.1 shows the frequency dist
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40 Difference in Annual Water Use p
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after 1995. By including only those
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Table 5.11 Statistical tests compar
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Factors that Influence Water Use Th
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Table 5.12 Association of categoric
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Indoor Water Use per Unit in 2001 I
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Table 5.13 Continuous factors from
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Multivariate Models to Determine Im
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properties built before 1995 were c
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A = Beta coefficient for “Propert
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substantially reduces the sample si
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Table 5.17 Model #2 coefficients an
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0.00 indicating that whatever fit d
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commodity charge for water and wast
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Page 222 and 223: 110 Average Annual Water Use Per Un
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Page 226 and 227: Table 5.27 Paired samples test, all
Page 228 and 229: Table 5.30 Estimated water use befo
Page 230 and 231: Table 5.33 Comparison of water savi
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Page 234 and 235: sector only reduced usage by 18% (A
Page 236 and 237: Table 6.1 Avoided costs from submet
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Page 240 and 241: included in this cost/benefit analy
Page 242 and 243: Table 6.3 Cost and benefit for owne
Page 244 and 245: Perceived Concerns In the resident
Page 246 and 247: With a service fee, residents could
Page 248 and 249: Table 6.4 Economic return for a res
Page 250 and 251: ANALYSIS OF PRICE ELASTICITIES Econ
Page 252 and 253: concluded that if a single elastici
Page 254 and 255: esults from this analysis point to
Page 256 and 257: over which they have control than d
Page 258 and 259: According to the basic consumer cho
Page 260 and 261: The consumer choice problem can be
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Page 264 and 265: water systems from compliance with
Page 266 and 267: and methods of practice. NIST publi
Page 268 and 269: Table 7.1 NSUAA Summary of State Re
Page 272 and 273: the AWWA WaterStats 1999 database.
Page 274 and 275: Measures, which dispatches a public
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Page 278 and 279: 226 Table 7.6 Summary of utility re
Page 280 and 281: DISCUSSION - KEY EXAMPLES OF STATE
Page 282 and 283: ill. Condominium associations are g
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Page 286 and 287: Weights and Measures Regulation In
Page 288 and 289: from the submetering. Meter testing
Page 290 and 291: clean and decent housing or the lac
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Page 294 and 295: NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE F
Page 296 and 297: complaints in all 50 states and app
Page 298 and 299: - Meters must demonstrate in testin
Page 300 and 301: - Plumbing systems are space constr
Page 302 and 303: (2) Twisted or kinked flex supply l
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Page 306 and 307: Estimated Water Use By Different Bi
Page 308 and 309: there are clear benefits to these s
Page 310 and 311: study site. These values were then
Page 312 and 313: immediately strengthens the owner's
Page 314 and 315: among the nation's key strategies f
Page 316 and 317: all repair and replacement decision
Page 318 and 319: These findings underscore the obser
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varies with volume of use) for mult
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Recommendation 6 - Efficient plumbi
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financially responsible for their o
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individual unit, the volume allocat
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARC
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Fixed rates - Part of a master mete
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Total-capture submetering - a type
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282
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Corral, L.R. 1997. Price and Non-Pr
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McClelland, L. 1980. Encouraging En
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Young, C.E., K.R. Kinsley and W.E.
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